Demand For Foodbanks In NI Hits Record High

The demand for food banks in Northern Ireland has remained at a record high throughout 2015-16, according to a study carried out by the Trussell Trust.

25,755 food parcels were given out in Northern Ireland last year and 11,155 of them went to children.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Following hard on the heels of the billions stashed abroad by the rich and powerful we have today's heart-rending report from the Trussell Trust that hundreds of thousands of our fellow-citizens, including children, are struggling, one step away from starvation, in the fifth richest economy in the world.

"If anything demonstrated the fierce and burning inequality engulfing our country, it is the repugnant contrast between a rich elite who can enjoy tax-light arrangements for the cash they have squirrelled away in the British Virgin Islands with the tales of daily despair emanating from the trust’s 424 foodbanks.

"Most of those using food banks are in work, but are referred to the trust because of low wages and benefit delays brought about by this government’s chaotic welfare upheaval.

"What will it take for this government to accept that six years of mindless austerity not only fails economically but cause tremendous human misery? 

"It is a national disgrace and those on the Conservative benches should not just hang their heads in shame but act now to block the further cuts their party plans to unleash on ordinary people and struggling families."

(CD)