Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Nutritional Standards for School Meals have been in place since the scheme's inception. They were developed by a technical Nutrition Subgroups comprised of:

• Dieticians from the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute of Ireland,
• The HSE,
• Safefood, and
• The Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

These standards are available to all schools, organisations and suppliers and are publicly available on gov.ie

I have asked for a review of the scheme’s nutritional standards, and is being conducted by a dietician supervised by the Department of Health and in coordination with the Interdepartmental Group on School Meals. I have asked for a report on the nutritional standards to be submitted to me by the end of the year.

An evaluation of the School Meals Programme was conducted in 2023. The report highlighted the effectiveness of the programme, including, improved academic results; studies show that school meals improve academic performance by increasing the time children spend in school, and support for families; the programme saves money and time on food preparation.

In December 2024, the Department of Social Protection established an interdepartmental working group, which includes the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Department of Children, Equality and Disability, to oversee and make recommendations on the operation of the scheme, including nutrition inspection and evaluation. This is a standing group which will make recommendations on matters within its remits on an ongoing basis.

In the meantime, food that is high in saturated fat, sugar and salt will be removed from the school menus by September 2025. Up to now this food had been permitted once a week at most and only when selected by the child's parents.

My department has an oversight role in relation to the School Meals Programme and conducts regular inspections of schools which includes reviewing the menu. Under the existing audit process, some 400 schools are inspected onsite annually by that department. In total, 121 desk assessments were carried out in 2024. This represents a 20% total check on schools. For 2025, 400 schools will be inspected and the desk assessments will be increased to circa 250 cases as more schools become eligible to join the programme. Ongoing audits can increase or decrease based on risk assessments levels.

These inspections assist this department in ensuring standards are being met in relation to different areas of the School Meals Programme.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland deals with enforcement procedures in instances of non-compliance with food law by any food business operator in Ireland.

All primary schools now have an entitlement for Hot School Meals and under the programme for Government, I will commence the rollout of Hot School Meals to all secondary schools over the lifetime of this government. This is comparable to the Finland model where school meals is free to all primary and secondary schools. The UK operates a different model which is free for the first three years in infant schools then entitlement is based on family income.

The scheme operates on an administrative basis and I have no plans to place it on a specific statutory footing.

I trust this clarifies the matter.