Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I totally agree with the Deputy that a five-year-old should not receive the same portion as a 13-year-old and we get that feedback a lot. I suspect there are Members who have seen food come home with schoolbags and probably found it a few days later.

Every school has the flexibility, within procurement rules, to choose the provider of the food. There is not some massive corporate monolith. There are a lot of locally-based companies providing services, local employment and the highest standard of locally sourced food. Yes, there are anomalies and it is always the anomalies that are highlighted In my own and Deputy Conway-Walsh's county there are small, owner managed companies working hard and that is replicated across the country so we do not want to lose that model. I had a good discussion with Deputy O'Reilly about the potential involvement of the meals on wheels network in delivering school meals and we will look into doing that if the capacity is there.

The review on nutrition will consider all the other issues raised by the Deputy. Pasta sauce is not that bad for you.

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