First hot meals scheme is served up at Inchicore school

KIDS at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Goldenbridge tucked into a nourishing lunch last week as the first hot school meals project was served up in the Inchicore school.

Pupils had a choice of chicken curry and brown rice or vegetable curry and brown rice on the first day of the project, followed by delicious penne bolognese and tomato pasta and then turkey meatballs and potato Vegiballs and potato.

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty launched the Hot School Meals scheme while visiting the school with local TD, Catherine Byrne, Minister of State at the Department of Health. 

This is the first Hot School Meals scheme to be introduced and it will serve to road-test the idea and identify any issues before a larger pilot initiative is rolled out later this year. During this initial pilot, almost 250 pupils attending the Southside school will receive a hot meal at lunchtime each day. It will run until the end of the current school year.

 As part of Budget 2019, Minister Doherty announced that hot dinners will be provided on a pilot basis in up to 36 schools to some 7,200 children from September 2019 at a cost of €1m for 2019 and €2.5m in a full year.

 The pilot will initially be rolled out at primary schools that do not currently avail of the dinner option under the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s School Meals Programme.

Schools that do not have canteen or kitchen facilities for preparation of the hot dinners on site wil also be prioritised.

Minister Doherty said: “Funding the provision of food services in schools guarantees ongoing positive returns on public investment in the health and educational performance of future generations. I would like to thank the management of Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School for participating in this initial pilot project with my department during the rest of this school year. It will help us to review all aspects of the scheme and to refine it before we roll it out to other schools next September.”

 The existing School Meals Programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,580 schools and organisations benefitting 250,000 children. Funding for the scheme has been increased significantly over a series of Budgets from €35 million in 2012 to €57.6 million in 2018.

 The programme is considereed an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement by children, especially those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

 Minister of State, Catherine Byrne welcomed the Hot School Meals scheme to Goldenbridge.

“Research shows us the value of the provision of adequate and nutritious meals for a child’s health, learning, attention and educational achievement,” she said

“Under the Healthy Ireland Framework, the health and wellbeing of children is a priority across Government. That is why I am delighted that Minister Doherty is providing funds to establish a pilot programme for a hot meals scheme in schools.

“I would like to commend Tonya Hanly, the school principal, and her dedicated staff in Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, Goldenbridge, for facilitating this pilot. I’d also like to welcome Carambola CEO, Colm O’Brien, and his team, who will be providing the meals to the school and helping to develop a model for the wider pilot programme.”