LAST UPDATE | 7 Aug

SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN the ‘Hot School Meals’ scheme for the first time this year will see a delay with its rollout due to a change in procurement rules. 

Up to 350 primary schools are eligible to join the scheme for the first time from the beginning of the 2025 academic year. 

However, due to a change in procurement rules set by the Department of Education, students in these schools will not have access to hot lunches until the middle or end of October at the earliest. 

Opposition parties have blasted the delay as a “disgrace”. 

Initially, principals of impacted schools had been contacted by the Department and given two options:

The first option was to wait until the new procurement documents are available and then submit an application for the hot school meals. The Department warned, however, that once the documents are available, it could take a further 8 to 10 weeks to complete the process.

The second option was to sign up for cold lunches until January 2026 and then avail of the hot meal option from January 2026.

However, the Department of Social Protection has since told The Journal that schools that take the cold meals option will not have to wait until January to avail of hot school meals and will instead be able to avail of them as soon as they complete the procurement process. 

The Journal understands that the new procurement rules are expected to be in place by next week, which would allow schools to begin the process of finding a food supplier.

This means it is expected that schools will be able to avail of hot meals from mid to late October at the earliest.

Reacting to the delay, Labour’s education spokesperson Eoghan Kenny put the delay down to “bureaucratic red tape” and said it was “not just frustrating” but “deeply unfair”.

“Hot school meals have long been championed by the Government—and particularly by Micheál Martin—as a key cost-of-living measure for families. The announcement of their expansion was made with great fanfare, yet what we’ve seen since is a disappointing lack of follow-through,” the Cork North Central TD said.

“Schools and families have been left in the dark, with communication from the Department practically non-existent. For many families, these meals were not just a welcome support—they were a necessity.”

Social Democrats education spokesperson Jen Cummins said the delay was a “disgrace” and questioned when schools were informed of the issue. 

If they were informed over the summer holidays, Cummins said that represents an “extraordinary failure in planning and respect”.

“Schools have a right to proper notice. They have a right to their holidays,” she said.

Cummins added that the Hot School Meals programme has the potential to be transformative in addressing educational disadvantage and food insecurity, but “only if it is implemented properly, with high nutritional standards and community-centred delivery”.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s education spokesperson Darren O’Rourke said:

“The minister’s department changed procurement rules at the eleventh hour, knowing full well it would jeopardise the rollout. While clarification that hot meals may be provided sooner than January 2026 is welcome, it does not erase the widespread confusion or chaos for principals and parents.”

From this September, all primary schools in the State are eligible for the Hot School Meals scheme. 

Last year, 2,850 primary schools participated in the scheme.

A review of the scheme’s nutritional standards by a dietician is set to be undertaken following concerns that some of the options available to schools are of poor quality.

Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary said he has asked for a report on the nutritional standards to be submitted to him by the end of the year.

In reply to a parliamentary question from Labour TD Conor Sheehan, the minister said: “In the meantime, food that is high in saturated fat, sugar and salt, will be removed from the school menu by September 2025. Up to now this food had been permitted, as an option, once a week at most and only when selected by the child’s parents.”