Beyond food banks - novel approaches

Innovative food sharing models offer new ways to address food poverty.

Date: 30 September 2025
Time: 10:00am – 1.00pm

Overview

Across the island of Ireland, innovative models like food clubs, community pantries, student pantries, and social supermarkets are transforming how surplus food is shared.

These approaches go beyond traditional food banks, offering more dignified, sustainable and community-led approaches to addressing food poverty.

Our expert speakers will discuss:

The shift away from traditional food bank models
Real life examples of community food sharing
Best practices in developing and running social supermarkets
How to support organisations in building sustainable and scalable surplus food programmes

Programme

09.30 am – 10.00 am
Registration with tea and coffee

10.00 am – 10.10 am
Dr Aileen McGloin, Safefood: Welcome and opening

10.10 am – 10.20 am
Robert Thornton, Vincentian MESL Research Centre at SVP: The cost of a minimum healthy food basket in 2024

More information

The minimum healthy food basket series is derived from research which works with members of the public in ‘deliberative focus groups’ to discuss and agree what people need for a socially acceptable standard of living that allows people to live with dignity and participate in society.

This presentation will summarise findings for Ireland and Northern Ireland:

Highlighting food costs in 2024 for a set of illustrative household compositions
Illustrating how costs vary by child age group
Examining food costs as a proportion of income from social welfare and when in employment

Takeaways:

The research shines a light on what individuals and households need to live with dignity.
Food costs are among the largest expenditure areas in a household’s budget.
Attendees will understand the cost of adequate food and the challenge of balancing this alongside other needs and expenses on low incomes.

10.20 am – 11.00 am
Róisín Colohan, Homeless Connect FareShare project and Rachel Mulqueen, FoodCloud: The rise of innovative food sharing in Ireland and how to best support it

More information

FoodCloud and FareShare NI will explore the rise of innovative food sharing initiatives across Ireland and Northern Ireland, highlighting the growth of food clubs, student and community pantries, and social shops that are transforming local food access. They will show how these models move beyond traditional food banking toward more community-led approaches.

The session will also present key findings and actionable recommendations from FoodCloud’s recent report to government on how best to support these initiatives, including funding core costs, securing essential resources, and developing the infrastructure needed to scale and sustain impact.

Takeaways:

A shift in food access models: community-led alternatives to traditional food banking.
Real-life inspiration: scalable case studies from across Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Ideas worth replicating and connecting: potential for building stronger networks of practice.
Support is essential to scale: clear recommendations for government and funders.
Empowering community advocacy: a tool for organisations to push for recognition and resources.

11.00 am – 11.30 am
Yvonne Fleming, Crosscare: Changing the conversation around food banks – Crosscare’s work so far

More information

TBC

11.30 am – 11.50 am
Break

11.50 am – 12.20 pm
Dr Emma Beacom, University College Cork and Dr Sinéad Furey, Ulster University: Social Supermarkets Knowledge Exchange

More information

This presentation will provide an overview of social supermarket (SSM) implementation in Northern Ireland and present a framework for development and management of SSMs informed by research and a knowledge exchange webinar involving Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland participants.

Takeaways:

Charitable food aid performs an important function when poverty’s structural causes remain unaddressed.
Social supermarkets provide progressive access to food aid with wraparound support.
Lessons can be learned from Northern Ireland’s more established SSMs.
Ending food insecurity requires an income-focused, cash-first solution.

12.20 pm – 12.50 pm
Questions and answer session

12.50 pm – 1.00 pm
Dr Aileen McGloin, Safefood: Closing remarks

1.00 pm – 1.30 pm
Lunch

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Beyond food banks - novel approaches

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Speakers

Dr. Sinead Furey

Ulster University

Dr Sinéad Furey is a Senior Lecturer on the Food Business and Innovation undergraduate degree programme in Ulster University Business School, lecturing on food and consumer policy and legislation including active citizenship and sustainability. Her research interests are food insecurity and food policy. Her food insecurity research focuses on its definition and measurement, and developing an associated risk indicator to map under-served areas with respect to food access and co-existing poverties. She is working with local councils to co-design food access interventions.

Rachel Mulqueen

Foodcloud

Rachel Mulqueen is Community Engagement Lead at FoodCloud, where she leads efforts to build a more active, visible, and supported network of community organisations working with surplus food. Her role focuses on centring community voices and enabling the growth of community food access models. With a background in design research, Rachel has delivered social impact projects across the public and non-profit sectors, including an evaluation of Strand 2 of Pobal’s Community Climate Action Programme - Understanding How Inclusive Community-Based Climate Action Can Be Scaled-Up - which was launched at their Climate Conference in June 2025, and the co-design of a climate action toolkit for marginalised groups. Her work is rooted in a community-first, systems change approach.

Yvonne Fleming

Crosscare

Yvonne Fleming has volunteered and worked in the not for profit sector for over 30 years in Ireland and overseas. Yvonne is a Senior Manager in Crosscare with oversight of a range of initiatives – one being Crosscare food services.

Róisín Colohan

Homeless Connect FareShare project

Róisín joined Homeless Connect as a Floor Supervisor for its Fareshare project in 2021. With a background in managing people and projects, and developing teams within the pharmaceutical and communications industries, she has combined this skillset with a genuine passion for helping those in need, to support the work of Homeless Connect. Róisín was appointed Operations Manager in 2024 where she manages the day-to-day running of the FareShare NI warehouse and the food delivery service, ensuring all policies and procedures are compliant with FareShare UK. She is responsible for the recruitment and retention of Community Food Members.

Robert Thornton

Vincentian MESL Research Centre at SVP

Robert leads the Vincentian MESL Research Centre at SVP. Working on the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) research since 2010, his work has focused on the expansion of budget standards research in Ireland, developing its applications to assessing income adequacy, policy analysis and informing evidence-based recommendations. He has a particular research interest in income adequacy and approaches to measuring poverty and social exclusion. Robert is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and Queens University Belfast, he is a founding member of the Irish Living Wage Technical Group and sits on the Roadmap for Social Inclusion steering group.