Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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81. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he is aware of concerns raised about the nutritional value of school meals; if he has considered utilising non-profit groups like an organisation (details supplied) for this service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21757/25]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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My question is fairly straightforward. I am aware the Minister is doing a review. I have corresponded with him with regard to taking the profit motive out of school meal provision to the greatest extent possible. Has the Minister examined that or is he open to further discussion or consideration of it? My question cites the Meals on Wheels service but there are obviously others that would fulfil similar criteria.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for her question and correspondence on this issue. On the nutritional value of school meals, I am very aware of the concerns that have been expressed. It is important to note that each week, parents are provided with a menu of food options and it is the parents who select the food to be served to their children in that week. It is important, in my view, that parents continue to have this role. Second, the menu of food options presented to the parents is required to comply with standards set by the Department. These standards, the nutritional standards for school meals, were developed by a technical nutrition subgroup comprised of dieticians from the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, the HSE, Safefood, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. These standards are available to all schools and suppliers and are publicly available on gov.ie.

My Department provides the funding for the meals directly to the school. All schools are responsible for choosing their school meals supplier in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with public procurement rules. These rules clearly define the successful tenderer's responsibilities and obligations, including in particular adherence to the nutritional standards. My Department does not select the suppliers. In that context, if a school were to contract Meals on Wheels as its supplier, then that would be permitted, subject to procurement, nutrition and the other applicable requirements being met.

The Department conducts site visits and inspections in schools to identify if, among other things, the menu options are compliant with the specified standards. I have directed that a review of the scheme’s nutritional standards be undertaken. This will be conducted by a dietician who will be supervised by the Department of Health in co-ordination with the interdepartmental group on school meals. I have asked for a report on those standards be submitted by the end of the year. In the meantime, food that is high in saturated fat, sugar and salt will be removed from school menus by September 2025.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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2 o’clock

I thank the Minister for his response. The reason I raised this issue is I have a concern about the nutritional quality. Parents cannot control the quality of the food, although they can select from the menu of options. Concerns have been raised about the traceability of food and labelling such as "pasta sauce". At the end of the day, the companies that are involved in this have a loyalty to their profits and business. I am talking to the Minister as he is wearing both of his hats. He looks after part of the school meals programme but also has responsibility for community employment, Tús, the rural social scheme and other schemes. That would be very beneficial. Will he consider not-for-profit provision? We saw what happened in England with turkey twizzlers and all that kind of stuff. We do not want to go down that road. My fear is we are part way down it already and we need to pull it back. The best way to do that is to remove the profit motive from that programme.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I would certainly be happy to consider that. There would be logistics issues. Some schools feed hundreds of students every day with a range of meal options. It could work, from a nutritional point of view as well, in that locally supplied food is generally healthier in this context. It is something we might even ask the nutrition review to consider as well. Anything we can do to help in the not-for-profit sector in this space, which is doing really amazing work as it is, I would be happy to do.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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On Tuesday this week, I attended a presentation on the meals on wheels network. There was a representative from the Minister's office there as well. The network is absolutely fantastic. Day in and day out, the volunteers do a really good job. It is not just a food delivery service but they are really conscious about the quality of the food. They have a more hands-on approach. They are local. They do not have a corporate office so they might struggle to put in a very swanky and slick tender into a tender process. They do not have that kind of backup or administrative support. I welcome the fact that the Minister will consider getting the nutritional review to have a look at that. To the greatest extent possible, if we can remove the profit motive from the school meals programme, there will be benefits for the children, social benefits that come out of that, but also local benefits. Taxpayers' money could not be spent more wisely than putting it into the meals on wheels network.

Next week I will attend the celebration of 50 years of Balbriggan meals on wheels. It provides an absolutely exemplary service. I am really looking forward to it. The recipients of the service have good words to say about it when I talk to them. It is about the nutritional value as well as the service of calling to people's doors.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I join the Deputy in wishing a happy 50th to Balbriggan meals on wheels; it is welcome to the club. I agree with the Deputy. We will certainly have a look at it. The first thing to do is review the nutritional standards. We will complete the roll-out of the school meals programme into every remaining primary school in September. That is a good time to stand back, take stock and see how we can improve it. This is a very substantial investment on the part of the Department.

Many of the suppliers are not complete corporate monoliths; they are small local companies as well doing local things. I want to give credit to the local companies in this. We will have a chance to take stock and the issues the Deputy raised are definitely worth reflecting on.