The 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.
As announced In Budget 2025, the Hot School Meals Scheme was extended to all remaining primary schools meaning that approximately 3,200 schools and 550,000 children are eligible for hot school meals in the 2025/2026 academic school year. All primary schools have access to the programme should they wish to avail or it. The current academic year only started a few months ago and applications continue to be received and processed.
At the end of the 2024/2025 academic year some 2230 schools were eligible for the Hot School Meals. 72 schools did not apply for either the hot or cold lunch option with some 595 schools who obtained eligibility in April 2025 currently going through procurement for the 2025-2026 academic year.
There are some 300 suppliers in the School Meals Programme with the majority of these supplying one to three local schools. There are eleven meals on wheels organisations supplying forty schools and there are nine large school meal providers.
The budget for the Schools Meals Programme for 2025 is €300 million.
I trust this clarifies the matter.
