Kitchens and scratch-made meals 'should be mandatory in all new schools'

TDs and senators further suggested that the hot school meals programme be rolled out to secondary schools

The committee recommended meals be prepared on site in schools from scratch, with children eating together in a communal setting.

Kitchens and dining areas should be mandatory in all new build schools as part of a bid to improve the State’s hot school meal offering, TDs and senators have recommended.

A new report published by the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth also called for the programme to be moved out of the Department of Social Protection and under the remit of the Department of Education.