Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all saw the Jamie Oliver programmes in England and his war on turkey twizzlers and all of that. We have an opportunity to not let the situation get to that level. I welcome the Minister's commitment to monitoring the system. The Department must be very proactive as a significant amount is being spent here. That buying power should be used to drive up and maintain standards rather than allow standards to slip.

It may not be the best idea to wait for complaints to be made; they will come, and I will be happy to channel them in to the Department. I agree with increasing the number of schools inspected from 400 so that schools and providers know there is a high likelihood they are going to be assessed. At the moment there is a very low likelihood of that happening. No one wants to see the standards slip. Everyone wants to see kids get good quality, decent food. A little increase in the surveillance would be very helpful in that regard.

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