Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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928. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of providing the school meals programme to all post-primary schools in the State. [29832/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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.

In Budget 2025, it was announced that the Hot School Meals will be extended to all remaining primary schools in 2025, meaning that approximately 3,700 schools and 682,000 children will be eligible for school meals in 2025.

A budget of €300 million has been provided for the scheme in 2025.

There is currently 722 Secondary Schools in the country with 416,633 students and the estimated cost of providing the Hot School Meals to all post primary schools is an estimated €220m.

I trust this clarifies the matter.