Donegal community food projects benefit from Safefood's Healthy Eating Initiative

Safefood has announced a significant all-island €1.5 million investment in its Community Food Initiatives Programme 2025-28, with key projects across Donegal receiving funding as part of this initiative.

This four-year programme aims to positively influence the eating habits of people in low-income communities throughout the island of Ireland, fostering lasting change and strengthening community resilience around healthier eating.

The Donegal-based organisations receiving funding are Bundoran Community Development CLG and Inishowen Development Partnership.

Bundoran Community Development CLG serves communities in south Donegal, as well as north Leitrim, north Sligo, and south Fermanagh. This project will deliver initiatives around food education, growing, healthy eating, and budgeting.

It will also focus on peer-to-peer learning and mentoring, with a particular emphasis on those with limited income, vulnerable groups such as older adults, single-parent households, and people facing social or economic exclusion.

Inishowen Development Partnership (IDP): Serving the Inishowen Peninsula, this project will deliver a zero-waste food kitchen programme and map local food resources. The project will focus on vulnerable, isolated, and lonely individuals in the community, with a specific focus this year on men and households.

Welcoming the launch of Safefood’s Community Food Initiatives Programme, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD said: “Unhealthy food choices are increasingly becoming the norm, impacting the health of our population. I am encouraged by the focus of Safefood’s Community Food Initiatives, which are more than just a source of learning about food; they build practical skills and knowledge at the grassroots level. I welcome that these local projects foster connections within communities, aiming to create a future where healthy eating is realistic, achievable, and accessible to all.”

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Dr Gary A. Kearney, Chief Executive, Safefood, continued: “We’re excited to launch our latest round of Safefood Community Food Initiatives. They have a proven track record of effectiveness and success, and we want to extend their impact by doubling the scale and increasing the scope of our work to include not only good nutritional and healthy eating help but also ‘tips and tricks’ around food safety for members of the public. In addition to the 28 projects, which will be funded for four years, announced, we are introducing a new cross border partnership that will fund a further four cross border projects. We will also be funding 25 additional one-off community projects each year under the scheme.”

“This year marks 15 years since we first started working among communities and more than 65,000 people have taken part since then. By supporting people in low-income communities, these projects have the potential to create long-lasting changes in how people shop, plan and cook food. Ultimately, this work is about improving the access to, and availability of, healthy and safe food in our communities.”

The Safefood initiative will support each group to establish, manage, and sustain a local food initiative that promotes lasting behaviour change and strengthens community resilience around healthier eating.