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AN ONLINE PETITION has been launched in the United States calling on the Government to officially declare St. Patrick’s Day a national holiday.
Jimmy O’Halligan, President of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians (AOH) in Texas, set up the petition, which so far, only has 103 signatures.
He is lobbying the US Government because he wants “to celebrate the contributions that the Irish people and their diaspora have made to society.”
A national holiday in the US would show our appreciation and allow the Irish and Irish at heart the acknowledgment and gratitude of the American people for their impact on the US as we know it.
Mr O’Halligan told IrishCentral that he hopes to have the petition on President Barack Obama’s desk for St. Patrick’s Day this year.
The ‘dinners’ my daughter was being given were awful. Wouldn’t feed them to an animal. So now I don’t order any from the school meals and she just takes in a packed lunch like normal. I cook dinner at home for us all. She isn’t a fussy eater but couldn’t manage to eat anything they were given and it was all being wasted.
@Becky Blight: make sure your daughter is taken off the list as the company is still getting paid.
Another example of a waste of taxpayers money to tick boxes.The idea is good in ensuring all kids have a least one good meal a day but the cost of this for those that need it will far outweigh the good.
@John Sleator: What price would you put on giving food to those children that need it? You’ve clearly balanced the books and determined it’s not a cost worth paying.
I’m back to giving my lad his packed lunch.
At least I know it’s healthy. I wouldn’t feed that school meal stuff to a dog.
Ultra High processed, and a soggy mess by the time it’s gets to the kids. I’ve actually still to request the school to stop sending it home, it’s taking up weight in my bin every day. Pure Muck
Maybe the same menu should only be served in the Dail canteen to show the powers that be what they are spending the millions on. If they think it’s good enough to serve to some of the future politicians of Ireland, it should be good enough to serve to today’s current politicians. Just a thought.
I looked at the menu choices and it appears like put together ‘meals’ by bulk buying large quantities for eur 1 in a popular chain of frozen food stores.
Why if the ‘meals’ are prepacked use a misleading photo which suggests cantine style food?
As a parent I would prefer to have control over what my child eats and not avail of these ‘meals’. A healthy meal needn’t be expensive to shop for, while I appreciate some parents don’t seem to be able to afford feeding their children, maybe education of parents mightn’t go amiss.
I don’t know how some places like fresh to today are getting away with the muck they serve. There needs to be more inspections on each school, I’ve three kids in 2 different school and both meals are absolute muck. The potatoes in one is that reconstituted powder potatoes. It’s just full of oil.
@Nurse On Call.: I’ve 3 kids in school as well,none of them are getting these meals….im happy to feed my own kids because I’m their parent and it’s my responsibility.I honestly think they should get rid of this scheme altogether as most of us knew that the usual people in this country who contribute very little and whinge about everything were always going to complain unless there was a Michelin star chef and butlers installed in every school.
I love the impression the Journal gives with the photo of food being served from a canteen, implying that extra people have been employed to serve the food to the children. It’s prepared by the company who get the contract, then school staff serve it to the children, which cuts into teaching time.
I dunno I doubt eating bacon every day would drive up addiction, not all ultra processed foods are made equal… But the fact that they’re all prepackaged doesn’t feel right, and absolutely the focus should be on providing healthy meals. The fact that they’re not portioned for the right age group is plain stupid – seriously they’re losing money on uneaten food. It’s actually not that hard to make healthy meals affordable, if you plan ahead and pay attention to which vegetables are currently most affordable, which is probably easier when you have a supplier than when you go to your local Lidl anyways.
next phase they will ask us to pay for it. they will also put the same woke parents to have a say in everything and ask for halal to be a choice…
@Dominic Leleu: And why shouldn’t halal be a choice? I suppose you’d force vegetarians to eat meat too. At gunpoint if necessary?
@FoxyBoiiYT: Halal slaughter should be illegal here.
@FoxyBoiiYT: There is no choice to eat non halal meat.
@John Murphy: muted this tr oll
. Suggest others do the same
@FoxyBoiiYT: Why shouldn’t halal food be a choice here? Well mostly because this isn’t Saudi Arabia we’re living in, you absolute dunce.
@Dominic Leleu: What’s a woke parent, do you know or just copying from the Americans?
Wow. Another government scheme that is crap. What a surprise.
There was nothing wrong with the system they had in place before this and the menu was a lot healthier. The first thing they took off the menu was fruit! Madness.
What no Chicken fillet rolls?
@Thesaltyurchin: Probably too healthy
We got a bun and a glass of milk or cocoa.
The lunches started alright but have deteriorated as time has gone on.
My son won’t eat them and we send him with his own lunch every day.
This seems to me much like everything else in this country,
The well connected set up the company to provide the lunches and got the contract and are making a lot of guaranteed money from the state.
Meanwhile they cannot keep up with the demand with staff etc and are just firing out any old rubbish……sure they’re only kids, they won’t notice!
The menus are usually thought out and like that on a day where pizza is an option the other 4 options might be a pasta Bolognese, chicken dinner, something vegetarian etc. But if a parent knows their child will only eat the processed option everyday that’s what they will pick to ensure their child eats. If they pick options that are healthier that their child doesn’t like they get a note home to send their child in with a different lunch in those days so they won’t go hungry. I am blessed my child will try new foods and is a big lover of fruit and vegetables. But there is a day where the only item on the menu she likes is the chicken tenders. (she’s not a lover of curry or the cheese on lasagne and she hates all fish) All you can do is try your best to get them to eat well.
And we wonder why cancer rates are increasing
@Mike B: Because we’re getting better at detecting it, mainly. Over 50% increase in numbers of cancer survivors compared with a decade ago – earlier detection is leading to increased recoveries.
It’s like none of them have ever had children. You want 20 junior infants cooking their own lunch for the educational value? Or you want 40 5th and 6th clas students taking 2 hours out to prep lunch for their peers? The food does come in one use plastic as it is heated in them. For some kids this could be their one good meal a day and the menu usually varies from spaghetti Bolognese, to roast turkey dinner to a pizza or fish fingers. Each meal however does come with a serving of veg. You can make them more nutritional all you want but then you are looking at more waste. Because kids won’t eat something they don’t like you can argue with a six year old all you want about how the white fish with no breadcrumbs on is just as nice as fish fingers but they are not going to listen.
It doesn’t sound much different to a lot of the junk I see parents giving their kids anyway. Also, according to some people they won’t have time to become unhealthy from it as the planet is doomed (most days anyway)
Brilliant, sure I suppose the aim is to keep the Pharmaceutical Companies busy into the future.
Does Ruth Hegarty provide any evidence that children can become addicted to food additives? Because this sounds like it’s made up to scare parents. People need to stop being so whingey. If you don’t like the hot lunches, make your kid a sandwich then. My kid likes most of them and having a few chicken nuggets isn’t going to do her any harm.
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