According to data on Material Deprivation published by the
European Commission, Ireland comes in at number three on the list of most
deprived countries in the EU-15 – just after Greece and Italy. This means that
one million people, or 28 percent of the Irish population, struggle to provide
themselves with heat, shelter, food and bills. 600,000 people are living in
food poverty. Food banks are popping up everywhere.
Valerie Cummins in a small corner of Dublin's run down north
inner city works for Crosscare, a social support agency in Dublin that set up
Ireland's first community food banks. She said "Right now, demand is so high we can't
keep up. People are dropping in all the time asking for emergency parcels to
get them through the next few days. I've been working with Crosscare for 25
years and I have never seen things so bad. People are more desperate than
ever."
Rose Sinclair-Doyle and mum of two from Tallaght, south
Dublin recently started to use the new community food bank to feed her family.
"People never think it could happen to them," she said. "I've
been living under austerity for years, but it was only when my daughter moved
back home with her two kids that the money just couldn't stretch to feed us
all. I'm ashamed going in, but I need food," she said. "It's not an
easy thing to do, but after I split from my partner I was left alone with the
mortgage repayments. I don't get fuel allowance, so I have to think about heating
my house, paying for electricity... it's so hard. " Rose added: "When
I lived alone, I was able to stock up. Things were tight, but I could manage. I
would always have that point where there'd be a bill I couldn't pay, but I got
by until I was suddenly responsible for putting food on the table for four
people. Then I had to get help. It just takes one thing to push you to the
breadline, and that's where we are in Ireland right now."
Rose isn't alone. Students, the unemployed, people on low
incomes and those who racked up massive debt during the economic boom are now
starting to depend on Ireland's new community food banks to feed their
families.
Brian Leech from the Anti Austerity Alliance in Tallaght,
south Dublin told me the community food banks are drawing in Ireland's
"new poor" who cannot manage from pay-cheque to pay-cheque explained "Initially it was just people on benefits
or low income who ran out of money at the end of the month. Now that's trickled
down to middle income earners who are totally lost," he said. "The
banks threw money at people during the boom, and now people are trying to pay
it all back and feed their families. No one wants food banks, but people have
to eat and the government isn't helping hungry people." Brian Leech feels
that, in accepting help, we cannot overlook the root causes of poverty.
"People need better lives, more income equality and jobs. The food banks
are very important now, but we should all want a better future. We can't lose
sight of the issues that are forcing people to go to food banks and forcing
their very existence."
Valerie Cummins also referred to "new poor".
"A man came in here last week. He drove up in a white van, was well
dressed and well spoken," she said. "I could tell he was embarrassed,
so I brought him into the office. He said he works full time but after bills
that day he was left with €15 to feed his family for the week. He said his wife
would die of shame if she knew he went to a food bank. Even though it's against
policy, I put together an emergency parcel that will last him three days. I
might never see him again – he's part of Ireland's new invisible poor, eking it
out week to week. We shouldn't live in a world with food banks, but what can
you do when people in here are hungry?"
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