Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 February 2026
132. Deputy Aisling Dempsey asked the Minister for Education and Youth when the 2025 holiday meal pilot evaluation will be published; the indicators (attendance, wellbeing, cost per participant) which will determine scale-up for summer 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15458/26]
View answerIn line with the Government’s wider commitment to end child poverty, the Child Poverty and Well Being Office in the Department of the Taoiseach engaged with Youth Affairs Unit in the Department of Education and Youth (DEY) to run a pilot in 2025 to address holiday hunger during the summer months. The pilot was aimed at young people engaged with UBU Your Place Your Space (UBU) youth services, aged between 10 and 18 years old.
The aim of the Summer 2025 Holiday Meals Pilot Programme was to provide a hot or substantial meal to young people attending UBU youth services during June, July and August 2025. The target group consisted of young people who are at risk of not having access to a hot meal or any substantial meal during the official school closure periods.
41 UBU youth services, across the 16 education and training boards (ETBs), took part in the pilot which launched on 3 June 2025, with over 3,200 young people benefitting from the programme.
Following the pilot’s success in 2025, the department intends to run the pilot again this year (2026), subject to sanction, and expression of interest details will be issued to ETBs in due course.
An external evaluator, procured by ETBI, conducted an end-to-end analysis of the pilot programme, to assess whether this approach can tackle holiday hunger. The evaluation report is currently being finalised.
