Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 December 2025
160. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount the Government has spent on the school meals programme, by year from 2019 to date in 2025; in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68199/25]
View answerThe objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.
In Budget 2025, it was announced that the Hot School Meals Programme would be extended to all remaining primary schools in 2025 meaning that approximately 3,200 schools are now eligible to apply supporting approximately 550,000 children for hot school meals for the 2025/2026 academic school year. In 2025 a total of 3,700 schools and 682,000 children will be eligible for the School Meals Programme.
The expenditure on School Meals Programme as requested is shown in the table below. As my Department are currently receiving and processing applications for the 2025/26 academic year which only started a few months ago the estimated expenditure to year end is €248 million.
|
Year |
Actual Expenditure |
|
2019 |
€54.3 million |
|
2020 |
€53.5 million |
|
2021 |
€58.4 million |
|
2022 |
€77.5 million |
|
2023 |
€108.7 million |
|
2024 |
€181.4 million |
