The founder of a local food bank has warned that food insecurity in Co Monaghan is worse than people think.
Pauline McEnaney set up the Carrickmacross Food Bank in 2019 with her friend Caroline Tracey, after seeing a viral image of a child eating dinner on a sheet of cardboard on a Dublin City Centre street.
She says she never thought it would take off, but the Food Bank has since secured the use of the Old Lace Gallery to do their work.
The Carrickmacross Food Bank is now part of a network of Co Monaghan food banks that has been helping up to 50 families during the pandemic.
Pauline told Shannonside Northern Sound that some parents are keeping their children from school because they're stuck in a "poverty trap" and can't afford to buy school lunches:
