A Run On The Banks

at

irelands-new-poor-and-food-bankds-320-body-image-1417795315

Valerie Cummins

Anything good in Vice?

“We collect the food here and then distribute it via local charities to people in need. We also set up community food banks where people get a voucher that entitles them to a week of food…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.”

Valerie Cummins, who works for Crosscare, a Catholic Church-run social support agency, at their food bank in Portland Row, Dublin 1

Ireland’s ‘New Poor’ Need Food Banks to Eat (Norma Costello, Vice)

Thanks Cathal O’Rourke

 

Sponsored Link

Related posts:

A Glutten For Punishment I Remember That Summer In Sallins Notes From Temple Bar Mattress Mick: A Walking Meme

63 thoughts on “A Run On The Banks”

  2. Jock

    More rubbish from Vice making Ireland out of be a third world country.

    These charity schemes are used a the usual few that like to free up their grocery money for more leisurely pursuits.

    3. Heather

      excuse you, jock, my mum and i had to go to the food bank a couple times when my parents divorced and nobody goes there to save cash for drugs. it’s a humiliating experience, the food is generally low-grade and you stop going as soon as you’re able. don’t talk b*ll*cks about stuff you don’t know, troll.

    4. Calerz

      If you look up the proper definition of 3rd world country – we are actually a third world country and so is Switzerland…

  3. Dhaughton99

    Food banks are the new normal and it’s the same in the UK.
    Free cheese and butter vouchers for all.
    Merry Xmas.

        1. Rep

          Not its not, it explains how Rose, the grandmother gets €188 from the BTA which is then used to pay her mortgage and feel the 4 of them. There is no mention of the daughter receiving anything.

          “Rose now collects a weekly voucher that entitles her and her family to a set amount of food worth €80 (£63). Previously, she was the only income in the house, receiving a Back to Education Allowance that gave her €188 (£148) a week. After paying her mortgage of €130 (£103) a week, Rose, her daughter and two grandkids were expected to live on €58 (£46) a week, or €14.50 (£11.44) per person.”

          1. Banotti

            What are they giving grandmothers BTEA grants ffs. Such an unbelievable waste of money that scheme. It’s 4 years of hassle free dole that is of no benefit to anyone.

          2. downtowntrain

            My mam is a granny, she was made redundant about six years ago. She got a management degree from gmit on BTEA and is now in charge of contracts for a large catering firm. You’re off the mark with that assertion.

          3. Don Pidgeoni

            Ah, my bad Rep. Tbf, there could be reasons why she has no benefits, not sure why they aren’t mentioned but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to use the food bank either

          5. Rep

            I don’t doubt that they use the food banks or that it is a sad indictment of the current state of affairs that food banks are now needed, I just think the journalist has take some artistic license to make it sound better. Her previous article for the Indo was truly awful.

          6. Don Pidgeoni

            Maybe but there could be reasons why the daughter doesn’t receive benefits. Or why the mother isn’t taking money from her daughter.

  5. Rubex

    There is absolutely no doubt that people are suffering and there is food poverty in Ireland (and many other countries). The article is extremely selective as it claims that the lady in question is the only one in receipt of an allowance/funds from the State. As there are children involved they would be eligible for Children’s allowance. I’m not saying they are any better off or anything or in any way trying to gloss over their plight but the facts within the article appear to be wrong.

  6. tim_nice_but_dim

    I emailed Crosscare 2 weeks ago as I live/work nearby asking could I be of assistance in anyway to them… Asked them what food are they in need of as I would like to drop in some supplies to them…

    Got no answer… Obviously my support isn’t required….

  7. Banotti

    This food poverty is bullshit. Food has never been cheaper as a living expense which are comfortably covered by welfare payments.

    2. Mick Flavin

      A lot of people don’t get welfare payments, or might have ongoing payments to make which outstrip income.
      There’s also a decent chance a lot of these people may have personal problems which make them bad at making sensible financial decisions based on what’s best for them in the long-run, which I would guess is an unforgivable state of affairs in your point of view, and they should be made to pull themselves up by their bootstraps…

      1. Banotti

        1. If people don’t get welfare payments then there is good reason as they have other sources of funds.
        2. Welfare isn’t there to cover massive outgoing payments due to debt. They should consider bankruptcy if that is the case.
        3.Personal problems and poor money management are an issue but I don’t think those people can claim to be impoverished.

          3. Gee-gees

            First link says nothing about if prices have increased over time in Ireland, just how much is spent as proportion of income.

            Second and third links: How are reports on US spending on food (note the first one says spending less on food proportionally not that food is cheap that other countries, in fact it is more expensive in the US than some comparison countries) relevant to Ireland?

          4. Banotti

            God I hate that style of arguing. Find whatever irrelevant gap to hide yourself in rather than admit you’re wrong.

            Food in the western world has never been cheaper.

            “no, I want data from December 2014 going all the way back to 1700 “

          6. Gee-gees

            I want data for Ireland, not America. America is not Ireland. It’s not a style of arguing, its evidence.

          7. Banotti

            I gave you data for Ireland twice. You gave me some nonsensical Nielsen survey and you have the cheek to question my sources.

            Have this then big man.

            http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/statire/temp/2014128175915781846CPM01_1802698.gif
            Look at that carefully if you can understand it. Food has not even doubled in price in 30 years! It has fallen substantially in the last 7 years.

            Now I’m going to give you an exercise. Find a table for average earnings or GDP per person over this time period. Tell me how much food has fallen in proportion over the last 30 years. Thank you.

          9. Banotti

            Don’t bother questioning my arguments if you don’t actually know anything about the subject. Everything I write here I know about and I have the goods to back it up.

        2. Banotti

          FYI since 1982 to today the cost of food has increased by 93% in Ireland. In the same period the GDP per capita has increased by 450%.

          As a second aside the basic welfare payment increased by about 100% in 7 years between 2000-2007, a bigger jump than 30 years of food price increases. So the rest of you spare me the bleeding hearts about people on welfare not being able to afford food now.

          1. Anne

            I like a bit of maths myself, but GDP per capita is little comfort to those who are going hungry, in fairness.

            To give you a similar analogy, let’s say you’re a bit of a fattie – not saying you are now – but let’s say for argument’s sake you consume 5,000 cals a day, and let’s say there’s lots of other fatties out there like you, and you and the other fatties bump up the average per capita calorie intake to 3,000, that’s still little comfort to those going hungry.. do ya gets me Banoffi Pie?

          2. Nigel

            Don’t be so bloody thick. It’s about people onwelfare, and off because if you think welfare won’t be stripped off people who have no other source of income HAHAHAHA, living on margins so razor thin that getting some food from a food bank makes the difference between making the rent getting tossed onto the street. It doesn’t matter how cheap food is, the fact that they don’t have to pay for it eases the pressure because the tiny cost of food to you or me can be a goddamn grand canyon when you have feck all.

          3. Jock

            The problem there Nigel is that food has increased in price by 11% since 2000 yet welfare has doubled.
            Where were the stories about food banks and cries about poverty back then when food was proportionally so much dearer?

          4. Lorcan Nagle

            GDP is a terrible indicator of relative prosperity because it’s an average rather than a median or weighted mean. There’s no indication of whether an increase in GDP represents a proportionate increase in everyone’s income, or a massive increase in the incomes of a smaller number of people.

            Other measures of wealth and propserity show that across the western world its in fact the latter.

          5. Nigel

            Jock, the cost of living is way bloody up and incomes are down. Rent and utilities and transportation and education have narrowed the margins people live on to a razor’s edge. Jesus, if you can’t understand that, how the hell do you even function in this world? When you ask your rhetorical question, are you accusing people of lying about the necessity for food banks and the problems of poverty, or are you acknowledging the inadequacy of your own analysis in failing to provide a workable hypothesis as to why people are crying about poverty now when they weren’t back then?

          6. Anne

            @ Loran
            It doesn’t matter what GDP is at, there will still be people living on the bread line.

            In any event, he hasn’t a clue what’s he’s talking about.
            GDP isn’t even a good indicator of a country’s standard of living, and even GNP (which is generally seen as a better indicator) figures are distorted by the rise in tax inversions/ redomiciling.

          7. Lorcan Nagle

            Oh, I agree absolutely Anne, it’s a horrible reality that there’s always peopel who won’t have enough for one reason or another, and even worse that there are people who’ll dismiss their problems.

            I was just specifically addressing the argument that an increase in GDP automatically means a reduction in poverty, which is utter rubbish and patently easy to debunk.

          9. Anne

            @Lorcan..

            “I was just specifically addressing the argument that an increase in GDP automatically means a reduction in poverty, which is utter rubbish and patently easy to debunk”

            Yep. Even a Wikipedia article on GDP article would have told him that..

            But, whisht, we missed this bit –
            “Everything I write here I know about and I have the goods to back it up”
            hehe..

      1. FM Luder

        Are you finished now? Have you managed to communicate enough information to support your world view? It’s a story about food banks ffs. Do you have any sympathy/empathy for your fellow citizens? Or do you prefer to just ignore the problem?

        1. Spartacus

          We can take a little comfort from the thought that as close as Banotti may be to blowing a gasket today, she will be positively incandescent with rage after Wednesday, possibly to the point of combustion. Wouldn’t that be nice?

          1. FM Luder

            Yes, that’d be damn nice :) Having been force fed Banotti/Jock’s views from under a bridge I’m more inclined to think ‘it’, not he/she though.

      3. Gavin

        Right sorry, we where wrong, its the daily mail has to be fact. You really should have posted this first that way we would have all agreed with you.

    2. Don Pidgeoni

      Or they can’t afford to turn on the cooker or the microwave. As she well knows and has since stated

  9. Gavin

    Someone shut her up, shut her up….shes ruining our smoke and mirrors recovery party, everythings just dandy, move along nothing to see here.

Comments are closed.

Broadsheet.ie