‘It’s at breaking point’: Thousands of pupils risk losing school meals

Ireland’s biggest supplier of school meals has warned that the system is no longer viable and thousands of pupils risk losing access to lunches and dinners.

The Government school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of free meals to about 1,600 schools and organisations benefiting 260,000 children.

Ray Nangle, chief executive of Freshtoday, which supplies school meals to 80,000 students across 350 schools, says suppliers will have to drop out of the system in the new year due to rising inflation and payment rates that have been frozen since 2003.

“The system is at breaking point,” he said. “We warned six months ago that it was becoming unsustainable. If it lasts much longer, we’ll see more suppliers leave the market and it won’t be long before there are none left.”

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The rates paid to suppliers – 60 cents for breakfast, €1.40 for lunch and €1.90 for dinner – have not changed since the school meals programme was launched in 2003. During this time, inflation for the cost of food has climbed by at least 33 per cent, meaning that a basket of goods that cost €100 in 2003 now costs at least €133.

“If you go back to 2003, the social welfare payment rate at the time was €124.80. Now it is €218. Imagine if the social welfare rate was reduced back to €124.80 today?” Nangle says. “Would those families be able to feed their children adequately, pay their ESB bills and basic essentials? Yet as a school meals supplier, we’re expected to feed our 80,000 kids at the same rate.”

A spokesman for the Department of Social Protection said Minister Heather Humphreys is committed to continuing to expand the school meals programme. The spokesman noted a hot school meal option, introduced in 2019, is paid at a higher rate of €2.90 for pupils who recently joined the programme.

“[The Minister] commissioned the evaluation of the school meals programme to review all elements of the programme, including the funding rates currently being provided for the various meal options,” the spokesman said.

The final report is due to be completed by the end of the year. One well-placed source said the minister is “sympathetic” to an increase in rates and that additional money was allocated to the meals budget for 2023.

[ ‘It’s shocking’: Many disadvantaged schools will not have access to free school meals ]

Tracie Tobin, principal of St Michael’s Infant School in a part of Limerick city covered by the Deis programme for schools in disadvantaged areas, said the provision of hot meals, in particular, has had a transformative impact.

“Children are in school for a long chunk of time, so to have a hot meal instead of a cold sandwich is wonderful. You see children trying things they might not try at home; it opens their eyes to different foods,” she says.

“It boosts their concentration and energy levels, which they need to learn ... The chicken curry is legendary. It’s good for attendance too. it would be a massive loss to schools if it disappeared. I think all children, across all schools, should have access to this.”

Nangle said suppliers cannot afford to wait much longer for price reviews.

Freshtoday, he says, has prided itself on the quality and choice of meals provided to children. However, the company has been forced to save money by cutting costs on the quality, quantity and variety of food that the students receive. This means reducing the variety on the menu and cutting back on popular options such as roast chicken.

“This is something that is unacceptable to me,” he says. “These kids deserve better from the Irish Government.”

Nangle says the system needs immediate funding if it is to continue. “If rates stay at the 2003 rates, rates that are 19 years old, there will not be a supplier left in the school meals market in Ireland and the benefits to Ireland as a whole will be lost,” he says. “Immediate action is needed.”