Hot meals scheme is expanded to 900 new schools

Up to 150,000 additional pupils to benefit from the programme

Nine hundred more schools are set to be approved for the Hot School Meals programme from today.

Around 150,000 additional children will now benefit from the scheme, marking its most significant expansion to date.

An announcement will be made on the expansion by Taoiseach Simon Harris and Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys today.

Last December, Ms Humphreys announced her intention to extend the Hot School Meals programme to every primary school across the country.

Her announcement will be made during a visit to St Thomas’s Junior National School in Lucan, Co Dublin – one of the 900 additional schools being brought under the scheme.

“My ambition is that a child born in Ireland today will be guaranteed access to a hot meal by the time they start school,” Ms Humphreys will say today.

“The major expansion I am announcing today means we are now well on course to achieve that objective.”

Schools were contacted and invited to make a submission expressing interest in the scheme. Those schools will now be provided funding for the scheme by the Department of Social Protection. Each school will choose a supplier of hot meals “in an open, fair and transparent manner” based on national and EU legislation.

Schools not yet covered by the scheme are invited to express interest with a view towards every primary school across the country receiving funding for hot meals.

Those yet to sign up to the scheme that apply now will receive free hot meals for pupils from September.

The School Meals Programme was first introduced in 2003. However, hot meals first became a part of the scheme in 2019, starting with a small pilot scheme of 37 schools.

From the initial pilot scheme, the number of schools grew to more than 500. Following today’s announcement that number will stand at more than 1,400 schools.

A plan was approved by the Government in March last year aimed at expanding free hot school meals to all schools at primary and post-primary level by 2030.

It would mean 950,000 pupils across 4,000 schools would receive a free hot meal every day.

Rate increases for the programme were introduced last year, bringing the rate up to 75c for breakfast, €1.70 for cold lunch, €2.50 for dinner and €3.20 for hot school meals.

“The contribution of the suppliers to the success of the School Meals Programme has been significant. Funding under the School Meals Programme is at a specific rate per meal, per child, per day,” Ms Humphreys said.

“I am delighted to have this week secured government approval to increase the meal rates which importantly will be backdated to 1 January 2023.”

The School Meals Programme aims “to provide regular, nutritious food to children who may be unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them”.

The scheme received an additional €42.5m in funding in Budget 2024 after €94.4m was provided for the School Meals Programme the previous year.

“My ambition is that a child born in Ireland today will be guaranteed access to a hot meal”