Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that we want to make sure children get quality food but we have to wait until the outcome of the review. The Deputy was a teacher and, therefore, he knows first-hand the benefit of feeding children when they are at school. It helps their educational attainment. For those parents who are trying to come up with lunches children might eat, it makes it an awful lot easier if they get their lunch at school, particularly a hot one. I visited a school not that long ago in which there were different menus with different choices for children for the hot school meal. This is particularly relevant to primary schools. I do not know how many times I have pulled blue mould-covered sandwiches out from the bottom of a bag on a Friday evening. It does not matter how nice they are made; the children still manage to not eat them. That is why I am totally committed to this programme.

See this speech in context