School Meals Programme: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-30 ============================================================ Malcolm Noonan (GP), Agricultural Panel I want to be associated with the vote of sympathy in relation to Seamus Carroll, who was a great character and we always had a bit of banter around the hurling in Kilkenny and Tipperary. He will be sorely missed here. Like others, I do not want to repeat points that have been raised, but the school meals programme has been transformative. There is no doubt about it. The review that took place was most welcome and very comprehensive. Many important elements that were considered in it will now be added into the scheme. For families, particularly those experiencing food poverty, it has really been a transformative programme. I want to raise a couple of points about the food security crisis we are heading into. A discussion is thankfully starting to take place around local food production and our vulnerability towards future shocks to food security, particularly in the horticulture and growing sector in Ireland that is unfortunately in freefall because of supermarket prices and many other factors. It would be wonderful if we could put a direct link between the growers and consumers; and the consumers in this case are children of school-going age. It makes that bridge and connection for life between them if we can, insofar as possible, connect local food producers into the school meals programme and incorporate them into the food programme, if it was hot meals or it could be fruit as well. It is my understanding that there could be some element of organic food as well with a certain percentage being organic food. Reducing the level of pesticides young people and children ingest is important as well. The other point goes back to the one Senator Tully made about school kitchens. There is a really positive connection where there are school kitchens in place and where children themselves could be involved in the preparation of food and learning how to prepare a number of meals per day. All of that could be part of their education programme and really important. It is this connectivity with food because we have grown disconnected from it because of our busy lifestyles and consumer patterns over many decades. There is also the ability to perhaps even have their own school gardens, bring the vegetables in from the school gardens and have a school orchard. I was involved in putting in a lot of school gardens down the years and giving children that gift of being able to grow food themselves, see where it comes from, actually using it and bringing it from the garden onto the plate is important. I would love to see if the programme could be expanded out into having a wider connection and conversation about where food comes from, food security and about educating children to be able to prepare a number of basic meals and bake bread. I know it is a big ask but I would love to see if it could be done and it is important. It will give children a greater appreciation throughout life of our food systems. The other point relates to my previous role. We set up a deer management forum between the Department of agriculture and ourselves so there will be a lot of venison on the market in the coming years. Is it possible to include venison at local level? There are hotspots around the country where deer are particularly problematic. It is a solution. There is very cheap organic meat out there that would be a source of protein for children. It is accessible and the best quality meat we could have. If there were a way of incorporating it into the school meals programme, even on a pilot basis at a local level, it would be worth doing. I will leave it with the Minister but it is an interesting point. Sustainably caught fish in local coastal communities could also be used. All of this creates a connection between children and food. I would love to see the scheme being broadened like that. My final issue is on food waste. I agree with Senator Tully's point about schools that have their own facility where cutlery, plates and all of that is there. If all of the materials that are compostable could be brought to a central facility it would reduce food waste quite significantly. That could be tied in with the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, from the point of view of the circular economy. There are a couple of points. It is a really transformative programme but I would love to see it broadened out into wider education around food and food growing in Ireland. I have two minutes left and Senator Scahill had to depart so he asked me to raise two more points with the Minister. He received feedback that sometimes the children who may need the programme the most can actually be the children who miss out. The system depends on parents or guardians engaging with an app or online system but the Senator said we need to recognise the reality that, for a number of reasons, a parent may not be able to complete the registration or may fail to place an order. Sometimes the household experiencing the greatest difficulties may also be the household that is least likely to engage consistently with an online process. I know that in the review it is stated that at a local level schools can identify a child who is in need so that issue will be addressed. The final point the Senator asked me to raise is that principals and teachers know their children and if a child arrives into school without a meal having being ordered and school staff know the child needs to be fed, there should be a mechanism to provide that meal. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-30/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-30