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The announcement means almost 2,200 primary schools across the country are now eligible to receive hot school meals. The objective of the school meals programme is to provide regular and nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them.

An additional 29,000 children across 168 schools will have access to nutritious hot meals for the new school year starting from this September. This brings the total number of primary school children now eligible to receive a hot school meal every day to 345,000.

Humphreys said: “Since my appointment as Minister for Social Protection, I have grown the Hot School Meals programme from a small pilot of just 30 schools to a nationwide programme which now provides nutritious hot meals in 2,200 primary schools across the country.

“My ambition now is to finish the job as part of this year’s budget and ensure that every primary school in Ireland is providing hot school meals in 2025. I firmly believe the roll-out of hot school meals to every primary school in the country will be one of the lasting legacies of this Government.”

The Department of Social Protection provides the funding to schools for the school meals programme. It is the responsibility of schools to choose their supplier in an open, fair and transparent manner in accordance with national legislation and EU directives on procurement.