Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with very little of what the Deputy said. I will certainly look at that. This year we will introduce a pilot project based on the Department of Education's summer programme to ensure that schools that are eligible for the school meals programme will be able to make meals available for the summer programme. That will support approximately 40,000 of the most vulnerable children who have complex special educational needs, who are at risk of educational disadvantage. We will work with the Department of Education to ensure that gets rolled out.

I am very focused on the nutritional side of this scheme. The initiative has been a wonderful success. I thank the officials in my Department who have worked very hard to get it right. We want to make sure that it is working and does what we all want it to do, which is to give a minimum nutritional value to the youngest citizens of the country and to ensure that everybody gets it, regardless of income. I am aware of the impact it has. Yesterday, I joined Tesco in regard to its Stronger Starts programme for vegetables. I saw some fantastic examples of that programme around the country. None of us understands the impact of good nutrition for younger children, which is what this scheme is intended to be about.

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