Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 May 2026
697. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Social Protection whether his Department has conducted any assessment of whether the current hot school meals procurement framework disproportionately favours suppliers with sophisticated written tender submissions over suppliers providing higher-quality food; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37406/26]
View answer700. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Social Protection the steps he intends to take to ensure the integrity of the hot school meals procurement process; to ensure compliance with public procurement law and anti-corruption obligations; and to ensure that contracts are awarded on the basis of genuine food quality, nutritional standards and service delivery rather than administrative capability, documentation quality or improper inducements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37410/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 697 and 700 together.
Under the School Meals Programme, the primary relationship is between the school and supplier. My Department provides the funding for the meals directly to the school and it is the responsibility of each School Board to administer the Programme in their school, including handling the procurement process. The Schools Procurement Unit under the Department of Education and Youth, provides guidance to schools for all procurements including the School Meals Programme and have published a Procurement Support document for the Provision of Hot Meals for Primary Schools. The criteria for the selection of suppliers of school meals must be objective and only for the supply of the school meals in accordance with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination, equal treatment within Public Procurement rules.
All schools seeking School Meals funding must sign a Service Level agreement with my Department. Meals which has an oversight role in relation to the School Meals Scheme and conducts regular inspections of schools. Under the existing audit process, some 400 schools are inspected and a further 121 desk assessments were conducted in 2024. This represents a 20% total check on schools. For 2025, 400 schools were inspected and the desk assessments increased to 155 cases as more schools become eligible to join the programme.
Any concerns with the quality of the food should be brought to the attention of the Principal and/or Board of Management who manage the contract with the Food Business organisation that supply the meals to ensure full compliance with the nutrition standards.
