• New report details hugely positive impact of School Meals on children’s education and wellbeing
• Evaluation recommends making Hot School Meals universal by 2030 
• Hot School Meals to be extended to all DEIS primary schools from September
• Phased roll-out to all non-DEIS Primary Schools to commence in 2024; Expression of Interest process to be launched in coming weeks
• School meal rates for providers to be increased

The Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD, has today announced landmark plans for the roll-out of the Hot School Meals Programme to every Primary School in Ireland.

The Minister made the announcement as she published an independent evaluation of the School Meals Programme which sets out the positive impact the Programme is having in terms of children’s education and wellbeing

Speaking during a visit to St David’s Primary School in Artane, Co. Dublin, Minister Humphreys said:

“Providing nutritious meals to our children at school is about so much more than food. It helps a child make the most of their education and their childhood.

It does wonders for our children’s wellbeing, their concentration and their physical and mental health. We know this because we have gone out to schools and asked the children about the difference it makes.

We also know from talking to parents and teachers that a hot meal in the middle of the day holds its weight in gold.

These sentiments about the positive impact of the School Meals Programme are very much reflected in the independent evaluation that I am publishing today.”

The School Meals Programme has an annual Budget of over €94 million. It supports over 1,600 schools and organisations nationwide and benefits over 260,000 children.

RSM Ireland was appointed by the Department of Social Protection to conduct the evaluation of the School Meals Programme.

Key conclusions of the evaluation include:

• There is an overwhelming consensus among all participants in the evaluation that the School Meals Programme is effective.
• The evaluation indicates strong support for extending the School Meals Programme.
• Results of this evaluation found a high level of qualitative evidence that the provision of school meals resulted in improvements in attendance in school.
• The qualitative evidence collected suggest that providing children with food in school is making a difference to families, both in terms of money saved, and for some families, in time saved in food preparation.

The Report makes a number of recommendations, including:

• The provision of the hot school meal option should be extended to all DEIS primary schools for the 2023/24 academic year.
• There should be a universal school meals programme with one free hot meal for every child in Ireland and this should be implemented in a phased approach by 2030.
• The report recommends an interim increase in funding rates for all meal options in the School Meals Programme.

Minister Humphreys continued:

“This evaluation is evidence-based and sets out a series of recommendations for expanding the School Meals Programme into the future. The overarching recommendation is that every child should get one free hot meal.

When I was appointed Minister for Social Protection in June 2020, there were 30 schools receiving Hot Meals. Today there are almost 500 schools benefitting from the hot meals programme.

The expansion of the programme to all DEIS primary schools and special schools will mean by the end of this year, 1,000 schools will be receiving hot meals – that is real progress.

From 2024, we will start the roll-out of Hot Meals to all remaining primary schools. This will be done on a phased basis. The report recommends universal provision by 2030 but my ambition is to move faster.  

Given we have already expanded from 30 to 1,000 schools in just over two and a half years, I believe we can reach all primary schools sooner than that.

In the coming weeks, my Department will invite expressions of interests from all remaining primary schools countrywide.

My ambition is that a child born in Ireland today will be guaranteed access to a Hot Meal by the time they start school.”

Minister Humphreys also today announced an increase in School Meal Rates.

The following increases to School Meal Rates will be introduced, effective from 1^st January 2023:

• Breakfast                – increase from €0.60 to €0.75 (15c increase).
• Cold Lunch              – increase from €1.40 to €1.70 (30c increase).
• Dinner                     – increase from €1.90 to €2.50 (60c increase).
• Hot School Meal      – increase from €2.90 to €3.20 (30c increase)

Announcing the rates increase, the Minister said:

“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.

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

Concluding, Minister Humphreys said:

“I was delighted to visit St David’s Boys National School to see the Hot School Meals in operation.

It was great to hear from the Principal, Mr Moore, about how the pupils are benefitting from warm and nutritious food, helping them to concentrate better at school while also enjoying the social interaction with their fellow pupils. There are 300 pupils in St David’s Boys National School enjoying these hot meals every school-day.”

The evaluation of the School Meals Programme is available here. 

Notes for the Editor:

The School Meals Programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,600 schools and organisations benefitting 260,000 children at present.  The focus of this Programme is 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 Programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.

The hot school meals element was introduced in 2019 and has grown significantly from a small pilot of 30 schools to a programme providing nutritious hot meals to almost 500 primary schools and currently benefits more than 90,000 children.