AIB-FoodCloud partnership has prevented 15,000 tonnes of food from going to waste
AIB
and the FoodCloud charity has helped to redistribute 15,000 tonnes of food, preventing it from becoming waste.
FoodCloud, which tackles food waste and food insecurity by giving surplus food to charities and community groups, joined with AIB for a new community meals programme last year.
In its first 12 months, the programme has served more than 5,000 ready-to-eat meals to people in need.
Aoibheann O'Brien, FoodCloud co-founder and director of development, described the initiative as 'a powerful evolution of our mission to ensure no good food goes to waste'.
READ MORE
'With AIB's support, we're reaching more charities and community groups across Ireland at a time when food insecurity is growing as the cost of living continues to rise,' she said.
The non-profit said that adding prepared meals to its redistribution network had increased the impact of the programme by enabling charities with limited cooking capacity to benefit from the scheme.
FoodCloud worked with suppliers such as Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Musgrave Group and BWG Foods to prevent 2,558 tonnes of food going to waste last year.
A total of 2,147 tonnes of food was redistributed the year prior. Cumulatively the scheme has prevented more than 15,000 tonnes of food from going to waste.
A survey of its 209 charity partners showed that 94 per cent found that the surplus food allowed them to support more people.
And 74 per cent said it allowed them to offer more services, a 5 per cent increase on the year before.
As many as 70 per cent of FoodCloud's partnered charities said they used all the surplus food.
FoodCloud said the partnership between itself and AIB has overall helped redistribute 15,162 tonnes of food.
The figure is the equivalent of feeding the population of Ireland nearly seven times, preventing about 50,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
AIB corporate affairs director Barry Field said the company was proud to support the AIB FoodCloud Community Meals Programme, which he said aligned with the company's 'commitment to fostering sustainable communities and reducing food waste'.
He said: 'By collaborating with FoodCloud, we are helping to ensure that surplus food reaches those who need it most.'
Mr Field also commended volunteers who contributed to the programme.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
12 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Government's spending overruns amount to ‘poor planning', Fiscal Council says
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) has said the Government's ongoing spending overruns amount to 'poor planning and budgeting'. It follows the Summer Economic Statement (SES), published on Tuesday, showing that planned expenditure for this year is now expected to amount to €108.7 billion, €3.3 billion more than set out in Budget 2025. Some €90.5 billion was allocated in the budget to current expenditure, or the cost of delivering public services, and €14.9 billion to capital expenditure. Both lines have since increased. 'Based on spending data for the first six months of the year, this upward revision is likely to be insufficient,' IFAC said in one of a series of posts it made on X on Wednesday afternoon on the Summer Economic Statement. [ Tax and spending package of €9.4bn to form basis of Budget 2026 Opens in new window ] 'Analysis by the Council suggests current spending is likely to be around current spending is likely to be around €1 billion higher than the SES figures.' IFAC chairman Seamus Coffey confirmed the posts when contacted by The Irish Times. While gross voted spending is now officially forecast to rise by €7.9 billion next year, IFAC said that spending overruns in 2026 are 'almost inevitable'. Some €2 billion of the increase is being provided for capital expenditure under the Government's revised National Development Plan. The Government is allowing for scope for €1.5 billion of tax cuts in Budget 2026, which, IFAC notes, is the equivalent of linking the system to inflation. [ What did the summer economic statement really tell us about Budget 2026? Opens in new window ] 'Excluding windfall corporation tax receipts, the Government is forecasting a budget deficit of almost €11 billion next year,' the watchdog said, nothing that this equates to 3.2 per cent of gross national income-star (GNI*), a measure of the domestic economy. 'This is despite a strong economy.' IFAC also took aim at how the Government warned that if there is a deterioration in the international tariffs landscape, the 2026 budget package would be smaller. 'This is exactly the opposite of standard economic advice. Countercyclical policy means giving more support when the economy is weak and less when it is strong,' it said. The EU is currently in trade talks with the US in an effort to avert US president Donald Trump's threatened 30 per cent charge on most European imports kicking in from August 1st. The EU has threatened to impose nearly €100 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs on US imports ranging from bourbon whiskey to Boeing aircraft in one fell swoop if an accord isn't reached by the deadline. 'More generally, the Government's budgetary plans are focused on the short term,' IFAC said, noting that the Government has yet to live up to its own programme commitment to publish a medium-term fiscal structural plan.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Orders against security firm top €140,000 as WRC blasts 'blatant flouting' of pay rules
A Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudicator has blasted a security firm for its 'blatant flouting' of national pay regulations for the sector as he awarded more than €30,000 to a worker subjected to non-payment of wages. Security officer Kipkorir Francis Kiptoo is the 16th worker to win an employment rights claim against BGS Security Ltd, trading as BGSS, in the past 18 months – with the total awards against the company in that time now standing at over €140,000. The company, whose clients included Centra, Spar and Supervalu stores in Dublin, also had its licence to operate static security guards revoked by the Private Security Authority (PSA) in June this year. The tribunal noted that Mr Kiptoo had given sworn testimony on his complaints under the Payment of Wages Act 1991, the Industrial Relations Act 1946, and the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 at a hearing in May this year. READ MORE Mr Kiptu's representative, David Cotter of the Independent Workers' Union (IWU), submitted payslips, work rosters and records of wages in support of a payment liability of €4,213.96 on the part of BGSS to his client. Mr Cotter submitted that BGSS 'effectively ignored the requirements of the employment regulations order (ERO)' for the security sector and had suffered an 'egregious breach of statutory rights'. The trade union rep gave evidence that he had made 'numerous efforts… to no avail, to establish contact in the hope of local agreed settlement' with the management of BGSS, adjudicator Michael McEntee wrote. In his decision on the case, Mr McEntee wrote that the claim was 'one of numerous cases being taken by former employees against this respondent'. He was satisfied that the company was on notice of the 'time, date and place' of the hearing and had failed to present any 'bona fide explanations' for failing to attend. He found that Mr Kiptoo's trade union rep had set out a 'comprehensive case supported by detailed evidence' that his client was owed €4,213.96 in wages to which there had been no rebuttal or counterargument. 'The wages due will have to be paid,' the adjudicator wrote. Mr McEntee also ordered BGS Security to pay Mr Kiptoo €26,500, one year's pay, in compensation for noncompliance with the employment regulation order in breach of the Industrial Relations Act 1946. He wrote that the national system of employment regulation orders was meant to be 'a safeguard for workers, and as importantly, to law-abiding employers'. 'Blatant flouting of the order is egregious to fair commercial trading, good industrial practice and national industrial relations,' he added. Mr McEntee also awarded €2,000 to Mr Kiptoo for a breach of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 in BGSS's failure to provide a 'satisfactory contract of employment'. The total awarded to Mr Kiptoo in the case was €32,713.96 – with today's decision bringing the total due to former BGSS staff on foot of findings of employment rights breaches since May 2024 to €140,560.71. It's understood that at least two more former employees of the company are to have cases heard by the WRC in the coming weeks.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Dublin Airport manager refused permission to demolish parking ramps beside Terminal 1
An Coimisiún Pleanála has refused planning permission for the operator of Dublin Airport to demolish spiral parking ramps on 'an extremely valuable site' at the hub. The decision upholds a planning refusal issued by Fingal Co Council earlier this year to DAA. In its decision, ACP concluded that the spiral ramps are part of the architectural heritage of Dublin Airport and form part of the existing approach to Dublin Airport's T1. ACP found that the demolition of the ramps 'would diminish the visual amenity on approach to T1 and expose the crude architectural detailing of the existing structures to the rear of the spirals, including the prominent architectural elements of the energy centre currently screened by the spiral car park ramps and as such would erode the character of the area'. READ MORE The planning commission also refused planning permission after pointing out that the spirals were constructed as part of the then new T1 in 1972 and their concrete finish reflect a distinctive architectural look typical of the brutalist period. The commission stated that notwithstanding the fact that the spirals are not a protected structure, it is considered that the spirals are of technical and architectural merit by virtue of their brutalist design, associated concrete construction and their unique architectural form and shape which reflect a distinctive feature adjacent to the T1 building'. The order – signed off by commissioner, Paul Caprani – stated that therefore, in the absence of evidence and appropriate rationale or justification, the proposed demolition of the spiral ramps is considered contrary to policies in the Fingal County Development Plan relating to the protection of architectural heritage. In its appeal, DAA said that permitting its proposals to demolish spiral parking ramps now at T1 'will unlock a critical development opportunity at the core of the Dublin Airport campus'. Chief commercial and development officer, Vincent Harrison told the appeals commission that DAA considers 'the removal of redundant, deteriorating structures within the airport campus is a necessary and strategic confirmation of the importance of unlocking future airport development potential'. Mr Harrison states that 'what is clear is that the application site, lying as it does centrally between two national airport terminals and at the heart of the eastern campus, makes it an extremely valuable site, particularly in the context of a limited and finite land resource'. On Wednesday, a spokesman for DAA said: 'We are surprised and disappointed by ACP's decision as the spiral ramps were not identified as significant heritage assets in previous architectural reviews or national surveys and have not been included on the record of protected structures, which was most recently updated as part of the Fingal Development Plan 2023–2029. He said: 'The spiral ramps have not been in use for many years and their structural condition has deteriorated over time. Removing them was part of our plan to enhance the airport's infrastructure and ensure the highest standards of safety and efficiency for all our passengers and employees. We will review the decision in detail and consider next steps.'
