18 Offaly preschools to benefit from daily meals programme

Some 18 preschool across Offaly are to benefit from a new lunch programme for pre-schools across the country.

The Minister for Children, Disability, and Equality, Norma Foley TD announced the launch of Bia Blasta (Delicious Food), the pre-school nutrition programme, to provide daily lunches for pre-school children in disadvantaged areas.

Around €4.2 million in funding will be provided to ensure that 25,000 children get a nutritious meal while attending early learning and care services with the highest concentrations of disadvantage in the country.

It will 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.

Mealtimes will be provided within a learning framework that builds children’s experiences of nutritious foods, along with the experience of preparing, sharing, and clearing up after meals.

This is the latest initiative under the Equal Start funding model, which provides universal and targeted measures for children in disadvantaged areas in early learning and care and school-age childcare.

Announcing the new Bia Blasta programme, Minister Foley said: “There is very strong evidence that giving nutritious lunches to children in disadvantaged areas will combat the risk of hunger as well as improving their attention levels and overall wellbeing.

"Bia Blasta is another very positive initiative under the Equal Start model, which is delivering crucial supports to children attending early learning and care and school age childcare in disadvantaged areas.

"My special thanks to all of the dedicated early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners working to deliver this model."

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

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

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

All early learning and care and school-age childcare services in Ireland are required by legislation to provide meals, with the type and frequency of meals dependent on the hours per day a child attends. Children in full day care (over five hours) must, for example, receive two meals and two snacks each day by regulation, whereas children in the three-hour free pre-school programme typically bring lunch boxes from home.

The Bia Blasta programme will be the first time that dedicated funding is provided for children who attend the three-hour free pre-school programme, and who typically bring lunch boxes from home.

The Offaly services to benefit from the programme are:

Castleview Pre-school

Cherrytots Playschool

Daingean Community Childcare Services Ltd.

Kilcormac Community Childcare

LAUGH & LEARN CHILDCARE

Little Blooms

LNAN Limited

Mad Hatters Afterschool

Memory Lane Preschool LTD

Playdays Nature School

Pullough Community Pre-school

Rainbowland Childcare

Rainbows and Butterflies Early Learning Centre

Re Scoil Iosagain

River's Edge Afterschool Care

Skippy's Creche & Playschool

Sunflowers Shinrone

Tullamore Community Pre-school