2026-06-16

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the making of regulations by the Minister for Health providing for nutritional standards and related requirements for school meals provided under school meal schemes funded by moneys provided directly or indirectly by the State or local authorities; to provide for the enforcement of such regulations by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland; and to provide for related matters. As this is my first Bill in Dáil Éireann, I am both very proud and nervous. It feels like my maiden speech all over again. It has taken 16 months of work since I was elected in November 2024 to bring this forward and I will thank a few people first. I thank my team, who are in the Public Gallery. They are diligent, hardworking and great craic to work with. It has been an absolute pleasure to get this over the line today. I thank the wider Social Democrats membership as well as the parents, school staff and children who contacted me about their experience of the hot school meal programme. Without their input, I would not have had the impetus to move this forward. I thank the members and the secretariat of the education committee. We spent a number of weeks talking about hot school meals and published a report. We also had the opportunity to go to Finland to experience the hot school meals programme there. I particularly thank the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, which drafted this legislation. The office is such a help, particularly for new TDs who need that help and guidance. I thank the children with whom I worked since the late nineties. I have worked in a number of communities throughout his city. I have worked with the children in Blanchardstown youth theatre, Cabra youth service and Ballymun Anseo school completion programme. I also worked with children and young people for my doctoral research. Those young people taught me that this country has a lot of problems that need to be changed, and that is why I am a politician. I could not change them out there, so I came in here in the hope that I could change something. While we are going nice and slowly, I am still going to keep marching on. I wish to thank my family. My dad and husband, who have worked in the food industry, are sitting in the Public Gallery. I hope I am not going to cry. I thank my children who have to put up with me never being there and talking about stuff that I am sure they do not want to talk about. All of us in this House who have children know the challenge it is to do this work every single day. I thank them for being there and putting up with me. I will now move onto the Bill. The hot school meals programme came into place because there were children in this country arriving to school every day hungry, and that is not acceptable in this country in 2026. A number of years ago, a pilot was started. Anyone who has heard me speak about education before knows I am not a fan of pilot schemes but that pilot scheme came into place and it was subsequently rolled out. It is now on offer to every primary school in the country. While it also exists in some secondary schools, I am not going to talk about that today. That is another day’s work. This Bill will ensure that the nutritional standards of any school meal served is of a high standard. That is important because a child cannot learn if they are hungry. Equally, they cannot learn if they are not nourished properly. Some of the food that was sent to me was a challenge in that regard. This programme is universal because if a child is hungry and everyone gets a meal, no one knows who is hungry. Everyone is eating the meal and, therefore, no one knows who the hungry child is. That is the huge benefit of this being universal. When it comes to the nutritional value of the meals, some of the meals sent to me had no vegetables. They had no balance or colour. They were unpalatable. I showed some of those photographs to members of the education committee, including to Deputy Darren O’Rourke, who is in the Chamber. Other people have been sent photographs of the hot schools meals. This is not acceptable. It is a waste of taxpayers’ money to have food served in schools that is not correct. It is also unfair on the children. This Bill would place nutritional standards on a statutory footing. At the moment, they are guidelines. This would bring them onto a statutory footing. It would require the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to introduce regulations to cover appropriate portion sizes, as we saw challenges with junior infants being served the same amount as a child in sixth class. Anyone with children knows, they eat a different amount of food. It would also address the quality, quantity and balance of the food, as well as appropriate portion sizes and methods of preparation. It would ensure certain food types are offered on a rotating basis. The Bill would allow for the prohibition of certain foods as well as the inclusion of healthy drinks and the provision of vegetarian options, as well as dietary requirements. It would also provide for the enforcement of the food legislation through the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. It would amend the Education Act 1998 to insert the words "to promote a healthy life and healthy food environments for students" into section 9(d). That is a bit technical, but that is all right. At the heart of this Bill, it is about recognising that every single child in this country deserves to have access to nutritious food that supports their health, development and ability to learn. Children learn better when they are nourished. Habits for eating healthy food start at a young age. I ask, therefore, for cross-party support for this Bill.

Is the Bill being opposed?

No. I congratulate Deputy Cummins on her first Bill.

Since this is a Private Members' Bill, Second Stage must, under Standing Orders, be taken in Private Members' time.

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I thank Deputy Cummins. I also commend her husband on his wonderful Christmas cake that I had the pleasure of tasting last year.