104. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Social Protection for details of the review into the hot school meals programme. [21369/25]

Sentiment score: 0.00

I ask the Minister for details of and a review into the hot school meals programme.

Sentiment score: 0.00

Perhaps the Minister will elaborate on this but from my understanding is that of the 2,220 schools participating in the programme, only 14 will be assessed this year. That is fewer than one in five schools. The review has been announced but we need to know the terms of reference as well. Will the Minister come back on that? How long will the review take? He said he hopes to have the review on his desk by the end of the year but is that the review of just the portion of schools that will be reviewed this year or is that an overall review of all schools? The Minister mentioned nutrition and a dietician and the standards he is looking for and that is what we all support. The one thing we can say about the free hot school meals programme is it is a really good initiative for a lot of children. It ensures that we know every child has at least one hot meal per day. This is what we can get behind and can work together on because at the end of the day we want children to eat hot food that is nutritious at the same time. I am not here to criticise. I am here to support getting the hot school meals programme right. This is for all children and something we all want to work for.

Sentiment score: 0.21

I agree with the Minister that we need the highest standards of nutrition, especially when dealing with young children so I support that. I have a couple of concerns. The same funding of €3.20 per meal and portion size is given to children ranging from junior infants to sixth class, that i,s from children as young as four to the age of 12. I am not sure if the Minister has kids but I have two girls and I recall when they were at that age. I have coached teams and seen that boys and girls of 12 years of age cannot have the same portion size as a four-yea- old so that needs to be examined. It needs to be amended and I ask the Minister to look at that. A report by the Irish Farmers Journal found that some rural schools find it difficult to get local suppliers. The Irish country living section found that the traceability of the food can be poor. One example was where an ingredient was listed as "pasta sauce". That is not an ingredient so we need to work on that to ensure proper ingredients are supplied. Last, I have concerns the programme is all being subcontracted out. I would like, where possible, for these workers to work in our schools and be part of our education system from a food point of view and a provider point of view. We see more and more privatisation. That has always been the Government's agenda. I do not want to argue with it but I would like to bring the programme back into the schools and see people employed full time to do it.

Sentiment score: 0.07

I have no doubt about that. I am not saying it is, either.

Sentiment score: -0.29