Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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108. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount allocated to the school meal holiday programme; the number of schools taking part, by county, in tabular form; the funding allocated in each county; if he will update the House on whether the scheme will be further rolled out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33121/25]

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.As part of the 2025 budget this also includes expenditure of €1.3 million for a Holiday Hunger pilot project to support some 68,000 of our most vulnerable children with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage. This is a key initiative as part of the Government priority to combat holiday hunger. It will also alleviate the costs for schools associated with running a summer programme.In the table below is the number of schools in each county that are availing of the Holiday Hunger programme and the funding per county.As this programme is a pilot, it will be reviewed in the 3rd quarter of 2025.I trust this clarifies the matter.