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

I will give the Minister another chance to tell me what the timeline was regarding when the Department knew about the service withdrawal and when the parents knew. This came as a bolt out of the blue. When you are living on a low income or a fixed income and you are trying to feed kids, you plan ahead. Parents had planned ahead on the basis that their kids would be getting a hot meal in the middle of the day. That has not happened for many. I am interested to know the details of the timeline between when the Minister's Department found out and when parents found out. Many parents had absolutely no warning and no chance to put contingency arrangements in place. Indeed, there was possibly no money to finance the kids to bring food to school. If the Minister does not have it, his Department should provide, in writing, a clear timeline and an explanation of why parents got absolutely no warning. I would also like to know what is being done to ensure this does not happen again, since we all agree on the importance of kids being able to access a hot school meal in the middle of the day.

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