Hot meals for an extra 150,000 primary pupils from today

Another 900 more primary schools will today become part of the Hot School Meals Programme in a large expansion of the scheme.

It means that an additional 150,000 children will benefit from what are described as nutritious hot meals.

The announcement will be made by the Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys later today.

Primary schools who have not yet joined the scheme can now express an interest and they will be enlisted in the coming months.

The Hot School Meals Programme was introduced in 2019 as a small pilot of 30 schools and it now covers more than 2000 primary schools.

Separately, the Taoiseach Simon Harris will meet the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and relevant Ministers to discuss road traffic collision trends.

The meeting will discuss what measures could be examined to address the reversal of progress made in recent years on fatalities and serious injuries on Irish roads.

A spokesperson said Mr Harris was eager to meet the RSA ahead of chairing a meeting of the Government’s road safety ministerial committee in the coming weeks.