Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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474. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost of extending the hot school meals programme to all second-level schools; and the number of primary and post-primary schools presently in receipt of this funding, respectively. [42385/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Post-primary schools are not currently eligible for hot school meals. Post-primary schools in the DEIS programme prior to 2022 can avail of the dinner option which differs from the hot school meal, in that it is generally provided by schools with onsite cooking facilities, whereas hot school meals provided to primary schools are prepared offsite.

There are some 2,200 primary schools currently eligible for hot school meals for the 2024-2025 school year. As announced in Budget 2025, Hot School Meals will be extended to all remaining primary schools in 2025 meaning that there will be 3,200 eligible schools in respect of 550,000 children This expansion will increase the School Meals budget by just over €72m to an overall budget of €288m.

The estimated annual cost of expanding the hot school meals programme to all post-primary schools at a daily rate of €3.20 per pupil is €221 million.

I trust this clarifies the matter.