In March 2015, over 80 people, representing food banks, churches, advice services, community organisations, statutory agencies and universities attended the ‘Enough is Enough’ launch event in City Church, Belfast to examine the rising demand for emergency food across the city. 

The ‘Enough is Enough’ project aims to harness the expertise of health and social care professionals, city councillors, advice workers, food banks, community and faith based organisations and strategic bodies across Belfast to collectively address the issue of food poverty. This scoping study lays the foundation for developing an action plan to tackle food poverty in Belfast in collaboration with the community, voluntary and statutory sectors. The Belfast Food Network (BFN) commissioned the project with funding from the Public Health Agency. 

The research was carried out by Jenny McCurry, who also wrote the report, on behalf of Advice NI. The project was initiated and developed by Dr Elizabeth Mitchell, Institute of Public Health in Ireland, in her role as convener of the BFN Food Poverty Working Group (BFN/FPWG). 

Thanks are due to Kevin Higgins, Head of Policy, Advice NI, and Kerry Melville, Co-ordinator, BFN, for their involvement in the project. The BFN is a founding member of the pioneering Sustainable Food Cities Network (SFC). Therapidly growing BFN was established in March 2014 to work with partners to establish a successful Sustainable Food City in Belfast.