School Meals Programme
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-22