Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

To start with the point about the lottery system, it is good that the Minister of State recognises that it is inadequate. Frankly, it is sick that in 2021 pupils are relying on a lottery to determine whether they get a hot meal in school. Either the programme is necessary, which the evidence suggests is clearly the case, or it is not but it is not acceptable in this day and age that students would be relying on winning a lottery.

A lot of the Minister of State's answer is the same as the answer that has been given for the last couple of months. The new element is the fact that the Minister is working to see if it will be possible to include the schools that were unsuccessful in the hot school meals programme this year. I hope that is translated into a solution for Knockmore Junior School and the other schools that missed out. If it is not, I have no doubt that the principal, pupils and the parents, who have done a great job of speaking out and campaigning, will continue their campaign until the hot school meal programme is provided.

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