Our school meals programme must use community hubs and on-site kitchens cooking local produce

We need a school food programme where meals are cooked from fresh local ingredients, and where the meals nourish our children, our land, and our communities, writes Michelle Darmody

As well as advocating for universality of the programme, the Children’s Rights Alliance advocated for improving nutrition standards of the current school meals on offer. File photo

Ireland is one of only a small number of countries to provide truly universal free meals to all students regardless of income. This is something to be proud of. 

Our school meals programme is intended to provide at least one nourishing meal to children whose family might not have the means to feed them; a social safety net for the 95,167 Irish children whose families are living in consistent poverty and the quarter of a million children experiencing deprivation.