School Meals Scheme: €1.8m in catering contracts awarded this week, €2.4m more up for tender today
By William O'Meara · 21 Jul 2026
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A busy week for the School Meals Scheme
The Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme — which funds hot and cold meal provision in primary schools — accounted for seven of the twenty award notices published nationally in the past seven days (14–20 July 2026). Between them, these awards carry a combined framework ceiling value of €1,819,536, spread across catering firms and community food companies serving individual schools.
It's worth being precise about what that figure means: none of it is confirmed spend. Every one of these awards is a framework ceiling — the maximum the school could draw down over the framework's life, not a guaranteed or final contract value.
The week's awards
| School (buyer) | Winning caterer | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Scoil an Linbh Iosa (Mercy Primary) | Bradcon Catering Ltd | €419,328.00 estimated value (framework ceiling) |
| Holy Family Primary School | Glanmore Foods Ltd | €321,300.00 estimated value (framework ceiling) |
| Scoil Eoin Phóil 11 Naofa | The Lunch Bag Limited | €312,748.80 estimated value (framework ceiling) |
| Scoil Naomh Iosaf (Adare BNS) | Cappercullen Foods Ltd | €246,500.00 estimated value (framework ceiling) |
| Fahy National School | Secmor Ltd | €239,366.40 estimated value (framework ceiling) |
| Bohola National School | Martina's Homemade Foods | €151,000.00 estimated value (framework ceiling) |
| St Aiden's NS | Wendy's Catering | €129,292.80 estimated value (framework ceiling) |
A related, smaller RFQ also closed this week: Donegal Education and Training Board awarded lunch provision for Gairmscoil Mhic Diarmada, Árainn Mhóir to BoatHouse beach bites at an estimated value of €30,000.
Nine more tenders close today
The pipeline isn't slowing down. Nine School Meals Scheme tenders are due to close today, 21 July 2026, with a combined estimated value — the buyers' own published estimates, not award figures — of €2,362,187.40:
- Ballyvary Central NS — estimated value €422,822.40
- Garranbane National School — estimated value €400,108.80
- Gaelscoil na Camóige — estimated value €380,889.60
- Scoil Mhuire NS (Milford) — estimated value €375,648.00
- Holy Family School (Monkstown) — estimated value €270,816.00
- Rathmore National School (Baltimore) — estimated value €167,731.20
- Ballyellis National School — estimated value €185,203.20
- Camcloon National School — estimated value €104,832.00
- S N Michil Naofa (Woodbrook NS) — estimated value €54,136.20
The pattern
The scheme runs as hundreds of individual, school-by-school procurements rather than one national contract, which is why the same caterer names keep reappearing against different school buyers across the country. Worth watching over coming weeks: which of today's closing tenders convert to awards, and whether current framework winners pick up further schools.