Schools warn free hot meals scheme under threat due to rising costs

Schools say many suppliers of free school meals have warned that they will have to discontinue providing food over the coming months due to rising costs.

Education and Training Boards Ireland, the national representative body for 277 State primary and post primary schools, said the allowance for school meals is “unrealistic” and causing the scheme to be unworkable.

The maximum rate of payment provides suppliers with €2.90 per student for a hot meal, €1.40 for lunch and 60c for breakfast. These rates have not been changed in more than a decade.

“For some children, this may be the only hot meal they get in a day – so it is vital that we do everything we can to ensure that this scheme stays viable,” said Paddy Lavelle, chief executive of the educational body.

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He said many of its 125 schools with Deis, or disadvantaged status, who run the meals scheme have reported better attendance rates and a reduction in the number of students arriving late.

“With rising costs across everything from fuel to food it is not possible for suppliers to provide meals to schools at the current rates. This is causing issues with tendering, as suppliers are no longer applying for school meal tenders, and the suppliers in place are withdrawing from the scheme to mitigate their losses,” he said.

“Funding needs to be adjusted in line with the significant cost increases and rising inflation, so that the scheme can continue to run.”

In the Wexford area, he said, a supplier recently pulled out of the scheme, while in the Galway-Roscommon area another supplier ceased participating last September but resumed recently with rolls rather than hot food. Contracts affecting dozens of schools are due for renewal in January, he said.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys recently ordered a review of the scheme following concerns over its sustainability.

Opposition parties, however, have said it is too late for some. Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said that 1,000 children in Connemara recently lost their school meals for cost reasons, while a school in Cork City, St Maries of the Isle, attended by some children from homeless shelters, also lost their meals for the same reason.

Dearbhla Byrne, principal of Knockmore Junior School in Killinarden in Tallaght, said the consequences for students if suppliers pulled out would be devastating.

“It is just too important for them and their families,” said Ms Byrne.

All 150 pupils at the school, based in one of the most deprived areas of the State, are entitled to a hot school meal and a snack. Some also benefit from the school’s breakfast club.

She said the hot food menu available to children is excellent and ranges from lentil dal to roast chicken and spaghetti bolognese.

“We’re are very lucky with the quality of meals provided,” she said. “We have homeless children and hidden homeless who might not have facilities to cook, or children with parents on very strict budgets – so for them to know that their children are getting a really good meal is a great comfort.

“Children can’t concentrate or learn in class if they are hungry.”