Thousands of school children will go without free school lunches because new regulations have made the scheme “totally unviable” for suppliers.

The changes have hit small schools the hardest and are thought to impact an estimated 2,000 children. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, Deputy Principal Breeda Hanrahan said her school in West Clare had learned of the change only recently from their supplier the Lunch Bag. 

“We got an email about 11 on Thursday to say that this service was being discontinued from Monday morning,” she said. 

“They gave their explanation and I understand it’s due to the new guidelines from the Department but they left us with absolutely no alternative. 

“At such short notice, they left us completely in limbo because we are so remote and rural.” 

Ms Hanrahan added that it will be “virtually impossible” for them to find another supplier and that they had previously had “absolutely no problem” with the deliveries on their end. 

Children at a primary school eating a school lunch.

Also on the programme, the Lunch Bag CEO Ray Nangle said it was “quite a sad day” for school meal suppliers but they had no choice. 

“There was an interdepartmental group set up for school meals in December this year and on the interdepartmental group you have members from the Department of Social Protection, you have Department of Health, Department of Education, Children and the Food Safety Authority,” he said. 

“Over the past nine months, that interdepartmental group has worked with the school procurement unit to develop a 97 page document of how school meals have to run going forward.

“What they decided was that Breeda or any member of her staff couldn’t assist in the heating and distribution of the meals in her school.  

“We as a supplier would have hire someone independent to the school to go into the school to heat the meals and distribute them.”

A packed school lunch. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Nangle added that this made the scheme “totally inviable” from a financial point of view and that it was an “extremely sad day” because it was something that “worked really well” beforehand. 

The Department of Education has been contacted for comment.

Main image: Children at a primary school eating lunch. Picture by: NorthScape / Alamy Stock Photo