The City of Cork Food Policy Council – Inter-agency collaboration towards a fairer, healthier, more secure and sustainable local food system

Food has long played a significant part in Cork's identity and Cork regards itself as ‘the food capital of Ireland’. In contrast Cork city has areas of severe social disadvantage and, in line with other parts of the country, there are rising levels of diet-related ill-health and where up to one in eight households experiences food poverty (Kenny and Sage, 2019). To date, Cork City does not have an Urban Food Strategy. The Cork Food Policy Council is a partnership between representatives of the community, food retail, farming, fishing, restaurant/catering, education, environmental and health sectors and local authorities. It was established in 2012 to work towards the achievement of a fairer, healthier, more secure and sustainable food system within the City and throughout the region. As a multidisciplinary group that works closely with the Cork Healthy City initiative, it has pioneered innovative approaches to bring food systems thinking into the city, working at both local and policy levels. This recognises the position and value of food within the fabric of city life, and for its multifunctional benefits to health, community, infrastructure and spatial thinking. The presentation will focus on the interagency nature of this group and how a greater understanding and collaboration among local policy drivers has led to innovative actions in the city and the groundwork towards co-creating a food strategy for the City.