The move is a collaboration between Bia Food Bank, an Irish charity formed in June 2012, and St Vincent de Paul, which has a target distributing up to 20,000 tonnes of food annually to needy people.

The first food distribution hub will be established in Cork on June 1. A second hub will become operational in Dublin before the end of the year.

The charities plan to open one in Galway next year, followed by depots in Limerick, Sligo, and Waterford or Wexford. Interest has also been expressed from smaller charitable groups in Kerry and Sligo about setting up facilities there.

Bia Food Bank spokesman Eoin McCuirc said the charities had already secured €60,000 funding from Tesco to meet some running costs. “They have also committed to provide us with all their surplus food and we’re in discussions with other supermarkets and hopeful they’ll come on board as well,” he said.

Mr McCuirc, who is an assistant principal in the Central Statistics Office, said figures show that 21% of children go to school hungry and the recession has taken its toll on an increasing number of middle-class families who can not afford to eat properly.

He said Bia Food Bank aims to co-ordinate with other national agencies and tap into the wonderful charitable nature of the Irish people to make an impact on significantly reducing food poverty.

Mr McCuirc said the first food bank was set up in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1967. The first in Europe was opened in Paris in 1985. Last year more than €1bn worth of food was distributed free under the food bank system to 5.5m people in Europe.

The two charities have been given the use of a 10,000sq ft warehouse in Little Island, Cork, as their first food hub. “We have been given this unit at a discounted rate by Eddie O’Connell of O’Connell Transport,” said Mr McCuirc. “We are very grateful for his help. The warehouse will be our first pilot and it contains refrigerated and frozen areas.”

SVP’s Cork regional vice president Brendan Dempsey said that, about three years ago, he asked wholesalers to provide him with food for needy families and the response was tremendous.

Mr Dempsey said he was delighted a professional organisation such as Bia Food was helping to move the project forward.

“This is huge. [Bia Food Bank] are lifesavers to us, as they’ll be able to run the whole operation in a professional manner as has been done in England, France, and Germany.”

Mr Dempsey said SVP provided around 2,500 families in Cork with food every week, in addition to supplying its own hostels, Simon, Cork Penny Diners, women’s shelters, and school breakfast clubs.

SVP plans to provide 100 of its volunteers with freezers to make the transfer of food from the hub to families more efficient.