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

On a related note, in the context of waste within the hot school meals programme, I understand the relationship is between the school and the provider but the Minister's Department issues guidelines and those guidelines refer to things like portion size and calories. Will the Minister issue some guidelines regarding age appropriateness? A child of four does not eat the same portion size as a child of 12. They just do not. If there are to be guidelines and guidance issued in relation to waste, this would be very appropriate to include because, at the one end, you have a child who is not getting enough and, at the other end, you have a child who is getting too much. You cannot ask them to meet up and swap over so that kind of guidance needs to be issued. If the Minister is going to look at waste and get feedback from schools, perhaps he would consider asking that question as well. He might also give guidance to the providers regarding right-sizing the portion sizes.

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