Hot meals programme to be extended to all schools by 2030

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said principals, staff, parents and pupils have been “hugely supportive” of the programme. Picture: MAXWELLS

Hot school meals are to be extended to all remaining Deis schools over the next year with plans to extend it to all schools from 2024, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys will confirm today.

She will announce the planned rollout of the scheme to non-Deis primary schools from 2024, benefiting an additional 60,000 students. The aim is to have it in all schools by 2030.

The announcement follows a report highlighting how the programme can improve academic performance through short-term cognitive boosts, and improve attendance, while also having a positive household income effect

The evaluation also found that the scheme has been positively received by all involved, with recommendations from key stakeholders to extend it beyond its current scope.

However, the report found that the current funding rates, some of which have not been increased in two decades, are insufficient, and need to be increased from the current rates which are as low as €1.90 per child.

Upon the evaluation, Minister Humphreys announced plans to increase the rates paid to school suppliers for the first time since 2003, saying that a hot meal for a child is “worth its weight in gold”.

It does wonders for our children’s well-being, their concentration, and their physical and mental health. For some of our children, that hot lunch may be the only nutritional meal they receive during a single day.

Ms Humphreys said the train is now “very much on the tracks” and called for “boldness and ambition” in giving access to a hot meal for every school-going child by 2030.

She said principals, staff, parents and pupils have been “hugely supportive” of the programme. “They have seen first-hand the huge difference that a hot school meal has had on children's educational outcomes. This is a programme that, without a shadow of a doubt, makes our schools happier places for all,” she said.