An additional five schools in Co Monaghan and six schools in Co Cavan are to receive hot school meals from September. The further rollout of the Government's Hot School Meals Programme will see an additional 29,000 children across 168 schools have access to nutritious hot meals for the new school year starting from this September. This brings the total number of primary school children now eligible to receive a Hot School Meal every day to 345,000. The local schools to receive the hot school meals from September in Co Monaghan are St Joseph's National School (Knockatallon), Latnamard Primary School (Smithboro), The Billis NS (Glaslough), Killeevan Central National School (Newbliss) and Scoil Mhuire (Glaslough). Meanwhile in Cavan, locals schools to benefit are St Mary’s NS, Castletara NS, SN Corr Lorgan, SN Greach Rathain, Bailieboro Model NS and SN Drom Cnamh.
Speaking to Northern Sound, Cllr Pauric Clerkin said the news from Minister Heather Humphreys' department was a "great boost" to pupils and students ahead of the next school term. "The programme forms part of Ireland's commitment under the European Child Guarantee to give all children access to a range of key services, including healthcare and nutrition," he explained. "It is a great scheme and is very beneficial for primary school children here. It was initially introduced by Fine Gael Minister Regina Doherty in 2019 as a pilot measure to 30 schools and now under Minister Heather Humphreys the scheme stretches to 2,200 primary schools across the country. This shows the commitment from my party, Fine Gael, to ensure every child has the best start in life. And we won’t stop. I want more schools across Co Monaghan to have the programme extended to them as soon as possible and working with Minister Humphreys, we will make that happen."
Also welcoming the news was Cavan Monaghan Fianna Fail TD, Deputy Niamh Smyth; "The expansion of the Hot School Meals programme has been a priority for Fianna Fáil in Government and its expansion has been supported by the Department of Education under my Fianna Fáil colleague, Minister for Education Norma Foley. No child should have to learn on an empty stomach. The expansion of this programme to these additional schools is a vital step in making sure that all our children have access to a hot meal."
