Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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24. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for a report on the Bia Blasta lunch scheme for pre-school children in disadvantaged areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49990/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I was delighted to launch the Bia Blasta – Preschool Nutrition programme on the 14th of August 2025. The programme will officially start in settings in the first week in October. This is the latest initiative under the Equal Start funding model, which provides universal and targeted measures for children in early learning and care and school-age childcare at risk of experiencing disadvantage.

Bia Blasta supports the replacement of the lunch box from home with the provision of a light nutritious meal to preschool children in services that are providing the ECCE programme with the highest concentrations of disadvantage in the country. The Bia Blasta programme once rolled out will be the first time that dedicated funding is available for up to 25,000 children who attend the 3-hour free preschool programme.

It will tackle child food poverty, reducing the risk of children going hungry or missing meals. Giving shared nutritious lunches to children experiencing disadvantage is key to reducing the risk of hunger while also helping to improve their attention levels and overall wellbeing.

Good nutrition in a child’s earliest years lays a healthy foundation for healthy eating habits and is essential for their future health and well-being. A key element of Bia Blasta is the engagement and participation of children in learning about nutritious foods. Mealtimes will be provided within a learning framework that builds children’s experiences of nutritious foods, along with the experience of preparing, sharing, and clearing up after meals. Children will be encouraged to make choices and discover varied and exciting foods.

The programme will also benefit parents by removing the need to provide a lunch for their preschoolers.

Services who opt in to the programme will be provided with a daily capitation for the purchase of food and a weekly administrative payment for food ordering. Up to the end of this year, €1m is also being made available for services participating in Bia Blasta to purchase equipment up to a value of €1,000 per service to enable them to deliver the pre-school nutrition programme.

A Bia Blasta resource pack of publications developed by Healthy Ireland, Safe Foods Ireland and Barnardos, will be available to participating services in both Irish and English later this month. These resources will build on the National Nutritional Standards for Early Learning and Care.

A dietitian is currently being recruited in Better Start to support services with participation, who will develop further resources and training around key topics such as menu planning for preschool children. The dietitian will also visit services and facilitate the sharing of learning and good practice across early learning and care settings.