Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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160. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount the Government has spent on the school meals programme, by year from 2019 to date in 2025; in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68199/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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 Programme would be extended to all remaining primary schools in 2025 meaning that approximately 3,200 schools are now eligible to apply supporting approximately 550,000 children for hot school meals for the 2025/2026 academic school year. In 2025 a total of 3,700 schools and 682,000 children will be eligible for the School Meals Programme.

The expenditure on School Meals Programme as requested is shown in the table below. As my Department are currently receiving and processing applications for the 2025/26 academic year which only started a few months ago the estimated expenditure to year end is €248 million.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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161. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the main providers of the school meals programme; the way in which providers are contracted; the way in which they apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68200/25]

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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162. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he has given consideration to local providers in the school meals programme; if the Government advertises in local media for food suppliers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68201/25]

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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164. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the way schools can withdraw from a contract for the school meals programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68203/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 161, 162 and 164 together.

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.

My department provides the funding for the meals directly to the school. All schools are responsible for choosing their school meals supplier on the open market, in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with public procurement rules. These rules clearly define the successful tenderers responsibilities and obligations, including adherence to the nutritional standards. My Department does not select the suppliers.

In order to withdraw from a contract the schools have to follow the procedure regarding the termination clause in their contracts.

There are some 300 suppliers in the School Meals Programme with the majority of these supplying one to three local schools. There are eleven meals on wheels organisations supplying forty schools and there are nine large school meal providers. My officials in this Department have been working with officials in the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and they have compiled a list of supports available to local community organisations who may wish to expand their operation into the school meals area. This information has been supplied to schools and a range of other community organisations.

I will continue to expand and improve the Hot School Meals Scheme and ensure that suppliers adhere to robust guidelines on the nutritional value of meals, the dietary requirements of students, reduce food waste and utilise recyclable packaging.

I trust this clarifies the matter.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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163. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the Government has done a review with parents in relation to the quality of the meals in the school meals programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68202/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In 2023, my Department published an independent evidence-based Evaluation of the School Meals Programme which sets out the positive impact the Programme is having in terms of children’s education and wellbeing. The key finding was an overwhelming consensus among all participants in the evaluation that the Programme is effective.

Of the respondent parents surveyed 83.44% agreed that the programme was positive. Similarly, 83.12% wanted the School Meals Programme extended to all schools, with a further 81.9% supporting the universal provision of hot meals.

The Nutritional Standards for School Meals have been in place since its inception and 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.
• Nutritional standards are a priority for me and I have directed that a review of the scheme’s nutritional standards be undertaken. This is being conducted by a dietician 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 this year.
• In the meantime, food that is high in saturated fat, sugar and salt, was removed from the school menu from September 2025. Up to now this food had been permitted, as an option, once a week at most and only when selected by the child's parents.
• I trust this clarifies the matter.