Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 July 2025
649. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the estimated full-year cost of providing free school meals for all pre-school children in the ECCE scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35659/25]
View answerThe full-year cost of providing a nutritious meal to all children attending the ECCE Programme is approximately €31m.
This calculation is based on the following assumptions:
• €1.50 rate of daily capitation
• 108,000 children in ECCE
• 5 day programme week
• 38 week programme year
• Resourcing a healthy eating educational programme for Early Learning and Care settings
This cost estimate comes with a number caveats. Importantly the daily capitation rate is indicative only. In addition, this estimate does not include any administrative funding for services to deliver the meals to children via the ECCE Programme.
An Additional Nutrition Programme is currently under development under the Equal Start funding model. Equal Start is a funding model and set of universal and targeted measures to support access and full participation in Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) for children and their families who experience disadvantage.
A total of €17.18m has been allocated for Equal Start in 2025, which is supporting foundational groundwork and progress on a number of key actions.
To date, 788 settings (serving 35,000 children - 4,700 from priority cohorts) identified as operating in a context of concentrated disadvantage have been given ‘priority designation’. Since September 2024, these settings have been receiving funding for additional staff that can be used to support engagement between the settings and families, as well as other child and family support services. The Programme for Government has committed to “continue to build up the Equal Start programme, ensuring children experiencing disadvantage can access and participate fully in early learning and childcare.”
