The founder of a Belfast foodbank has been left "gutted"after the facility was forced to close after five years in operation.
Tony Meehan, who set up the West Belfast Food Bank in 2015, said the service had been closed amid a lack of donations and in a move to keep volunteers safe during the coronavirus outbreak.
Just last week, Mr Meehan had appealed for donations after revealing the food bank had only around two weeks food left.
The shortage came as need for the service increased due to the Covid-19 crisis and also because of panic-buying leaving shelves empty leading to a lack of donations.
Mr Meehan revealed last night that the service had taken a decision to close.
He said the service was "running out of food because people were being selfish and stockpiling rather than donating and helping".
"We have been flat out the past couple of weeks trying to meet higher demands," he said.
"Our food stocks were drastically low and we would have been forced to close at the start of the expected surge. The decision has not been taken lightly. We needed tonnes of food to meet higher demand at this time".
