Food banks being set up to feed the poor
Food banks are being set up to help the country's poor.
The charity initiative is the latest effort to help the estimated 600,000 people living in food poverty.
The Bia Food Bank charity - which was set up in 2012 - is teaming up with St Vincent dePaul for thescheme.
The first food distribution hub will be set up in Cork in June, using a 10,000 square foot warehouse in Little Island.
Supermarket chain Tesco has committed €60,000 in funding to the initiative to help cover some running costs.
Another bank is planned for Dublin by the end of this year, and it is hoped more will open in Limerick, Sligo and Waterford or Wexford in the future.
The world's first food bank opened in the US in the 1960s. Today, more than five million people in Europe benefit from similar schemes every year.
