Debate contribution: Emergency Food Parcels for Children

Debate contribution by Ms Kate Nicholl on 27 January 2025.

MLA

Ms Kate Nicholl

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

27 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Emergency Food Parcels for Children

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4759195

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank my colleague Sian Mulholland for proposing the motion and for the humanity with which she delivered her speech. I pay tribute to the sector, which has done so much to educate us on how we talk about such issues as politicians. The work that it does to support people and inform policy cannot be overestimated. I will focus my remarks on my constituency of South Belfast, which I share with my colleague Paula Bradshaw. People think of South Belfast as a prosperous area, with the big houses on the Malone Road and restaurants and shops, but that image often belies the truth for many. The South Belfast Foodbank has been a crucial lifeline for families and individuals during times of food insecurity since its establishment in 2014. With all the good work that it does, the demand for its services has risen drastically in recent years, which reflects a broader worrying trend across Northern Ireland. In 2023, the South Belfast Foodbank received 2,946 referrals for food assistance. In 2024, that number surged by 17%, reaching 3,460 referrals. That dramatic increase highlights the ever-growing number of people in South Belfast who find themselves struggling to cover the basics of food, heating and the essential costs of living. That trend, as has been highlighted today, affects communities across Northern Ireland, but one of the most troubling aspects is its severe impact on children. It also impacts on children who are seeking asylum. Figures from the Trussell Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation show that child poverty in Northern Ireland is at an alarmingly high level, with the number of emergency food parcels provided to children having increased by 90% over the past five years. That figure is truly devastating. Even worse, the figures from the Trussell Trust cannot explain the scale of food bank use across Northern Ireland, as those figures reflect only the food banks in the Trussell community network, not the dozens of independent food aid providers and community groups that also provide emergency food in our community, such as the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul, those at Forward South who recently established the social supermarket and many others.

Thank you. Yes, absolutely. There is something almost Victorian about how those institutions have become institutionalised. We met people earlier at the round table that Sian and Kellie hosted. One woman who works in a childcare setting talked about how mothers come in without nappies for their children, so they have to rely on donations of whatever size they can get. What sort of society are we living in where children do not have even nappies? Organisations such as the South Belfast Foodbank did not come into existence by accident. It was a direct response to the increasing poverty in the local community. City Church Belfast, which is in the Holylands, felt compelled to act, as its leaders and volunteers were witnessing an ever-changing demography, with many newcomer families coming in who were already facing multiple layers of disadvantage and marginalisation. There was also the emergence of hostels housing people who are battling drug addiction, those who have been recently released from prison or those who live with major multiple underlying health conditions that prevent them working. People in that community saw that there was a real need to support those who were in dire need. Since then, the South Belfast Foodbank has become an essential service, meeting the immediate needs of thousands of families each year. It is clear that, while food banks play a vital role in addressing the crisis, the increased demand places on them a deeper systemic issue, which I have discussed. Bruce Gardiner-Crehan, who is the coordinator of the South Belfast Foodbank, put it so well. He said:

"We should not have to exist, but with increasing rents and the cost of utilities continuing to rise, people often have no choice but to rely on food banks."

The problem is related not just to food; people need support in other ways, such as with fuel and electricity. This has become a cliché, but families have to decide between feeding their children or keeping their home warm. That is outrageous in this day and age, and it is a decision that has become a matter of survival. As others have said, we need an anti-poverty strategy, and it needs to be fully funded and its implementation expedited. The final point is that the people of South Belfast, especially our children, deserve more than having to rely on emergency food parcels. They deserve a society in which everyone has the resources and opportunities to live a healthy and fulfilling life without the worry of when and from where their next meal will come. Until that is achieved, food banks will continue to fill a gap that they were never meant to address, and that is a truth that none of us should be willing to accept or settle for.

824 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:50 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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