A food bank in Dublin, which has been providing food to the elderly, single mothers, and Ukrainians, was closed this week by the Dublin City Council. The D8 Food Bank has been operating at the end of Meath Street since February. On May 16, the group was instructed to halt their services due to local bye-laws.
Liberties resident and food bank volunteer Fran Dempsey stated “On Tuesday, Dublin City Council came along and said we have to cease what we’re doing. I said to them to have a look at what we’re doing. We’re feeding people, we’re not doing anything wrong, we’re not making money, it’s all charity. We’re all voluntary and we get our supply from Food Clouds. We give the likes of bread, milk, butter, teabags and dinners out.”
He added, “About 50pc of our clientele are from Ukraine. There’s a lot of elderly people which is really sad, and we get young mothers, there’s a whole range of people really.”
In an attempt to resolve the issue, Dublin City Council has asked for a meeting with the D8 Food Bank group next week. A spokesperson from DCC commented, “The Southwest Inner City Local Area Office intends to engage with this group and has reached out via a number of channels in an effort to bring matters to a resolution. We have no further comment to make at this time.”
