Over 9,000 students availing of free meals in County Carlow
The free school meals programme has been available to all primary schools since September 2024
OVER 9,000 students in primary and secondary schools in Carlow are availing of free school meals, according to figures released by the Department of Social Protection in response to a parliamentary question from deputy Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere.
Minister for social protection Dara Calleary said 48 applications had been received for the 2025/26 academic year to date, equating to 42 schools and 7,300 students at primary level and five schools and 1,773 students at secondary level.
“Every school runs it differently; there are mixed reviews. Some schools think it’s absolutely fantastic and it’s working really well, and in other schools there are challenges in terms of take-up, the quality and waste,” noted deputy Cleere.
In his opinion, “a really good model” is Borris NS’s approach. Principal of the school Pat Coady explained that the school converted a room off the hall into an industrial standard kitchen, where the School Food Company prepares meals daily on site. The company also deliver meals to St Patrick’s Ballymurphy and Newtown Dunleckney national schools, which were too small to have their own kitchen or for it to be economically viable to have the meals delivered. Schools get funding of €3.20 per child each day for a meal from the Department of Social Protection.
“The experience has been overwhelmingly positive from my point of view,” said Mr Coady. “We have an extensive and varied menu. Obviously, it’s not going to suit everybody, but there’s a very high take-up and the quality is very good.”
Some parents have told him the meals have expanded their child’s palate because they are seeing their friends eat vegetables they would otherwise have avoided.
On average, 80-90% of the 195 students in Borris NS take up the offer of a free hot meal, which they order through an app each day. Waste is not very high as food is delivered in reuseable plastic bowls, which are returned to the kitchen after lunch. Pat also agreed that a ‘hub’-type model, where food is prepared and then delivered within a small radius, works well in a rural area with lots of small schools.
His only gripe is with the complex e-tendering process that he will have to go through next year when the contract with the catering company runs out. Pat said he “cannot see us going with another company” after the current contract runs out.
The free school meals programme has been available to all primary schools since September 2024, with around 3,700 schools and organisations â and 682,000 children â eligible to access the scheme. It is currently being evaluated by the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth.
At a meeting of the committee on 22 January, Darina Allen, the chef and founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School, said the current programme was a “missed opportunity” to teach children about food. She described the meals as “generally lacking” in nutrition. Concerns were also raised by other committee members over the procurement process, food quality and packaging waste.
Deputy Cleere stressed that “for a scheme that was only announced two years ago, huge progress has been made. And for me, while I understand that we need to work on the quality of the menus and nutrition side of it, I would never make any apologies for providing a free hot meal for a child in Carlow.
“I don’t want to say the word ‘snobby’, but it’s very easy to say the quality of hot school meals is this or that, but for a lot of people it’s the only meal they get that’s hot. and that’s important as well,” he said.
