Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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91. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of schools enrolled in the school meals scheme in 2025; the percentage of waste analysis has been done in these schools; and the nature of the reporting mechanism. [50836/25]

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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How many schools are enrolled in the school meals scheme? Has an analysis been done of the waste in schools? Will the Minister outline the nature of any reporting mechanism in this regard?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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As we discussed earlier, the objective of the school meals programme is to provide regular nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. In budget 2025, it was announced that the hot school meals scheme would be extended to all remaining primary schools in 2025. By the end of this year, approximately 3,700 schools and 682,000 children will be eligible for the school meals programme.

Under the school meals programme, the primary relationship is between the school and the supplier. The Department provides the funding for the meals directly to each school. It is the responsibility of a school board to administer the programme in its school building, including handling the procurement process in accordance with the rules and guidelines set out by the schools procurement unit of the Department of Education and Youth.

Wherever food is eaten, there will always be the challenge of waste and packaging. Prior to the school meals programme it may have been sandwiches wrapped in cellophane or plastic water and fruit juice bottles sometimes left unopened and uneaten at the end of a school bag. Under the school meals programme this issue is perhaps more evident than before. Therefore, it is clear, as stipulated by the schools procurement unit, that the school meal supplier is responsible for operating policies that progressively address environmental considerations, including waste and packaging. In addition, under tender documentation requirements, the supplier shall make all reasonable efforts to minimise adverse environmental impact in the methods of service delivery and in the materials used. We do not collect, and we do not have access to, the details of the wastage from school meals. This is managed at school level in accordance with the relative contract. However, I have recently made funding available to the Department of Health to employ a dietician, who will be based in that Department, to examine the nutritional content of school meals and to look at the waste issues.

It is clear from feedback from colleagues and schools that waste is an issue we need to look at.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I welcome the work that has been going into this and the efforts that this Government and the previous Government have made in putting forward the hot meals programme. Ultimately, it is there to provide meals to people who might not be in a situation to get them otherwise. This is definitely something we need to encourage. It is a great idea but we do need to monitor waste. In fairness, the Minister's team is working on that. As I have said, the Minister is providing the budget for 682,000 students in 3,700 schools. That is a huge effort and a huge contribution from the State to those children's daily lives. However, as I have said, it is important that we get feedback from the schools that we can analyse to help improve the process they are engaged in.

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

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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One issue that pertains to this was brought to my attention last week. It pertains to a number of schools in the Connemara region. Unfortunately, due to the upgrading of guidelines over the summer preventing food from being heated or cooked on site, a number of operators are no longer providing a service to these schools, which has resulted in the loss of the service for the children and families there. The schools are trying to source a new provider but they are having difficulty in doing so. The alteration of the guidelines has caused one or two concerns we need to look at.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy O'Reilly is spot-on regarding waste. I get that feedback all the time. A five-year-old should not be getting the same portion as a 14-year-old. That is something I am going to engage with the dietitian on. The procurement of school meals is done through the Department of education. We have a school meals working group and I have asked it to look at the whole area of waste.

The second issue relating to waste is around menu choices. The challenge is always to get children to eat healthily. We are trying to ensure that, in the analysis we are doing of the diet and nutrition side, the food will still be attractive and tasty for children to eat to ensure they get the nutrition.

To respond to Deputy Connolly, we discussed earlier the issue of a particular group of suppliers withdrawing services. There has been no major change to the procurement guidelines for existing schools. The procurement guidelines have been updated for new schools. The guidelines are based on food safety, food health and ensuring that a situation does not arise that could be challenged for whatever reason. They also ensure that responsibility for the food is not on the school, but on the food provider.