School Meals Programme

I thank the senior Minister for being here at this hour to take this. This issue is both topical and important. The school meals programme is one of the most important investments the State makes in children. At €300 million per year, it touches nearly every primary school in the State. Given that the Government's own review revealed that it is falling short, we cannot simply tinker around the edges. The research published yesterday was clear and indicative. The Department of Health's nutritionist found that just 7% of meals met all five basic nutrition standards, and that is not a high bar. Half of all meals contain no fruit or vegetable. Despite the Minister announcing an outright ban on high-fat, high-salt and high-sugar foods in April 2025, 15% of meals still contain them and they are the meals children order and eat most. We know that 100,000 hot meals per day are going uneaten and the top reason is meal dissatisfaction. Some 87% of teachers say that is why children do not finish their food. The Ipsos survey revealed that just 21% of children eat all of their meal. On waste, one 390-pupil school in Galway estimates 10 tonnes of food waste per year, which is the weight of a small school bus. Across the State, this model could generate 100 million single-use packs annually. Why is this happening? I strongly contend that a large part of the reason is the design of the system and the for-profit model that dominates the scheme. Some 99% of contracts go to the for-profit providers. The largest supplier has more than 600 schools. The next two largest suppliers have in excess of 400 schools. We saw what happened last year when two major suppliers withdrew from 79 mostly small rural schools without notice. The pursuit of profit means quality is squeezed, choice is unlimited but nutritionally hollow, and service is not guaranteed. Children can order chicken goujons every single day of the week or plain pasta every day. This is not a school meals programme. It is a race to the bottom. However, there is a better way, and we do not have to look far to find it. In Duhallow, County Cork, for example, a community-owned not-for-profit food service is delivering 3,000 meals per day to 30 schools. They cook from scratch using fresh, local ingredients, 75% of their ingredients are Irish and 40% come from within the surrounding region. They deliver hot food within 26 minutes. Their waste rate is 1.2% and not 19%. Closer to home for me in Drogheda is St. John's and St. Paul's junior and senior primary schools, which use fresh, local food from local suppliers to feed their approximately 1,000 students daily, employing 31 people. They have been doing it since the 1980s with their breakfast club. This is the power of the community-led model. We appreciate the hot school meals programme. It is a significant intervention. We support the principle of universality. I say to the Minister that there is a massive opportunity to do much more with it. Both Sinn Féin and I are making the case that we would take this opportunity to pilot those community-led approaches.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta O'Rourke as ucht an t-ábhar sin a ardú. As he has said, the school meals programme is important. That sometimes gets lost from people who maybe think they do not need it, but it is needed in all of the schools. It was rolled out quickly in the context of moving from a pilot programme in 2019 to 3,200 schools in September 2025. I know Deputy O'Rourke looked at some of the more negative responses, but the survey also found that 85% of children liked their lunch, 81% of parents reported their child avails of the scheme and 63% of teachers and principals believe it had a generally positive aspect. Since we introduced the ban on foods high in salt, fat or sugar we have 82% of meals being served. The Deputy is right that we need to get that to 100%. Some 3,200 primary schools with 555,000 children are eligible for hot school meals, and the budget for 2026 is €286 million. All schools, as the independent contracting authorities, are responsible for choosing their school meal supplier on the open market in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with public procurement rules. The Department of Education and Youth schools procurement unit provides the guidance to schools for all procurement, including this programme. These rules clearly define the successful tenders’ responsibilities and obligations, including adherence to nutritional standards. The primary relationship is between the school and the supplier. I put on record my thanks to school communities and school leadership across the country who are investing enormous time in this. The school meals programme is supported by approximately 300 suppliers, the majority of whom serve between one and three large schools. Providers range from the large national companies, to which Deputy O'Rourke has referred, to local restaurants, food outlets, meals-on-wheels services, social enterprises and the community organisations he has mentioned. One of the recommendations in the nutrition review report is that food catering systems will be reviewed to see which system meets the nutrition standards we want in a consistent manner. My preferred approach is to have as many local suppliers involved as possible. For instance, there are 11 meals-on-wheels organisations supplying 40 schools. The Deputy's colleague, Deputy Louise O'Reilly, has really pioneered that particular model and the Duhallow model is an example of best practice. The mix of suppliers is helping us to deliver hot school meals to more than 3,200 primary schools every day. That gives an indication of the scale of the operation required five days per week. I absolutely believe that community organisations can play an important part in that, and they already do. The two independent studies the Deputy referred to have been commissioned and published. I acknowledge the work of the Oireachtas joint committee on education for its work earlier in the year, and our colleagues in the Departments of Health and education for their assistance. The nutritional review has found a wide variety of healthy meals on offer, and the accompanying Ipsos survey has found 85% of children like their lunch, 81% of parents report that their children avail of the scheme and 63% of teachers believe it has a generally positive impact. There are absolutely improvements required. That is where we are now focused on the increased provision of vegetables, fruits, salad and wholegrain foods; improving menu consistency; providing age-appropriate portion sizes that will help to address the waste issue; and strengthening compliance systems. The review has recommended a number of areas, and we are progressing to the implementation phase in partnership with school communities, the Department of Health - we will continue to have our dietitian on board - and food producers around the country.

I appreciate the Minister's comments on his own preference for multiple providers. It is important to expand upon that. I referenced Duhallow. The Minister is aware the education committee has spent a lot of time on this. We have previously discussed this ourselves during Oral Questions. I have talked about Duhallow and St. John's and St. Paul's in Drogheda. This is not a niche experiment. It is a proven, viable, replicable model. In Finland, 850,000 meals a day are served through a community-led model. In Copenhagen, almost 90% of school food is organic, and its food schools show positive impacts on well-being from dietary diversity. It is the same in Milan and in France. There is really good research from the Trinity Business School and Food Policy Ireland making clear that the community model of school food provision can be socially, economically, and environmentally beneficial and resilient and that it supports local economies. In his follow-up contribution will the Minister expand on that point in terms of whether there is an opportunity now to look at meals on wheels, the community-led sector and the not-for-profit sector, what is working well, and how we can maybe grow that sector or share of the market, for want of a better term? I have a request for the Minister. I spoke to the principal at St. Paul's in Drogheda. There is an open invite to him to go to see their system operating. As I said, it is absolutely wonderful. It has been funded by the Department since the 1980s. It is incredible what the people are doing there, and they would love to welcome him to Drogheda.

I thank the Deputy. I have an invitation to go up there and I will go. It is important. School meals have been provided in a lot of communities for a long time and we have just ramped up the system. It is also important to note that the debate is often presented as a choice between commercial and not-for-profit community providers. Community involvement is possible within the existing programme and we can work with not-for-profit community organisations, charities, social enterprises and Meals on Wheels. I would also include community-based for-profit companies as well. They are providing a very important service. Flexibility is the strength of the current programme. Schools can choose from a variety of delivery arrangements that best suit the particular school circumstances, including contracting or commercial suppliers, not-for-profits and social enterprises. Local catering providers are preparing meals on site in those schools where the facilities exist. My Department is saying to schools that they can procure their school meal from any registered food business provider as long as they meet the standards set out in the standard procurement documentation. The findings of the nutrition review align very closely with those in the independent Ipsos Behaviour and Attitudes evaluation. And as I said, the report indicates a generally very high standard of food provision and a high level of satisfaction, but there is work to do. Through engagement with school communities, suppliers, and our colleagues in the Department of Health, we will achieve progress on that matter in terms of nutritional review, nutritional standards, proteins, vegetables, fruit, and also the provision of different models. Duhallow is a super model. There are other models similar to it. There is no point in us having the views of 88,000 parents, 7,000 children and school communities all over the country unless we do something about them. I again acknowledge the role of the Oireachtas education committee.