Lunches for Cork's pre-school children in disadvantaged areas

More than 50 early years services in Cork will benefit from a new Bia Blasta pre-school nutrition programme, providing daily lunches for children in disadvantaged areas.

Around €4.2m in funding will be provided to ensure that 25,000 children across Ireland receive a nutritious meal and learn about nutrition, while attending early learning and care services.

Cork Fine Gael TD Colm Burke welcomed that 33 Cork city early years facilities and 20 in Co Cork will benefit from this scheme.

“I’m delighted to see funding announced under the Bia Blasta programme.

“This funding will deliver crucial supports to children attending early learning and care, and school-age childcare in disadvantaged areas,” said Mr Burke.

“It will help tackle child food poverty, reducing the risk of children going hungry or missing meals.

“It will also ensure they learn about and enjoy nutritious foods, with the help of a dedicated dietitian to advise and support participating services.

“This will be the first time that dedicated funding is provided for food for children who attend a three-hour free pre-school programme, and who typically bring lunch boxes from home.”

He thanked the early years educators in Cork who he said “work so hard to look after the children in their care”.

“This is a major step in guaranteeing that all children have the very best start in life, and I look forward to seeing further expansion of this scheme in the future.”

A total of €3.2m is available to deliver the programme in 2025.

A further €1m is also being made available up to the end of this year for services participating in Bia Blasta to purchase approved items up to a value of €1,000 per service to enable them to deliver the pre-school nutrition programme.

This will include equipment such as a fridge, freezer, dishwasher, hob, or oven.

This is the latest initiative under the Equal Start funding model. Bia Blasta will be provided to all existing Equal Start-funded services in the free, universal two-year preschool Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE). This is expected to cater for around 15,000 children nationally.

In addition to these existing services, the Equal Start Identification Model will be drawn upon to target additional ECCE-only services that are serving high numbers of children experiencing disadvantage, which is expected to cater for another 10,000 children.