Twenty-Nine Primary schools in County Tipperary are to be included in the Hot Schools Meal Programme – nationally 713 additional schools are now in the scheme.
The additional primary schools include Cullen NS, New Inn, Rosegreen, Annacarty, Rossmore, Gaelscoil Durlas Eile, Scoil Angela and Presentation Primary school. It is expected that the service will start during the current academic year.
2,850 Primary Schools across the country are now eligible to receive Hot School Meals meaning that 475,000 primary school children now eligible to receive a Hot School Meal every day
The Department will also be engaging with any primary schools not currently signed up, to encourage them to participate.
Minister Dara Calleary also announced that a review of the nutritional standards for the scheme will be completed by a dietician who will be supervised by the Department of Health and in coordination with the Interdepartmental Group on School Meals. The Minister has asked for a report on the nutritional standards to be submitted to him by the end of 2025 – the scheme is funded by the Department of Social Protection.
In addition, the Minister announced the removal of food that is high in saturated fat, sugar, and salt from the programme from September 2025. The funding allocation has been welcomed by North Tipperary TD Ryan O’Meara.
