The Minister for Children, Disability, and Equality, Norma Foley TD, has announced the launch of Bia Blasta (Delicious Food), a new pre-school nutrition programme aimed at providing daily lunches for children in disadvantaged areas. With funding of around €4.2 million, the initiative will ensure that 25,000 children receive nutritious meals while attending early learning and care services in communities most affected by disadvantage.
The programme is designed to tackle child food poverty by reducing the risk of hunger or missed meals. It will also support children in developing healthy eating habits, guided by a dedicated dietitian who will provide advice and support to participating services. Mealtimes will be integrated into a learning framework that encourages children to experience, prepare, share, and clean up after meals, building life skills alongside nutrition awareness.
Bia Blasta is the latest initiative under the Equal Start funding model, which provides both universal and targeted measures for children in disadvantaged areas. Minister Foley highlighted the strong evidence showing that nutritious lunches improve children’s wellbeing, attention levels, and ability to learn. She also acknowledged the vital role of early years educators and childcare practitioners in delivering the programme.
Funding includes €3.2 million for the rollout of the programme in 2025, with an additional €1 million allocated for the remainder of this year to help services purchase essential equipment such as fridges, freezers, dishwashers, hobs, or ovens. This funding will support the smooth introduction of the pre-school nutrition programme across designated services.
The initiative will be made available to all Equal Start-funded services in the free, universal two-year Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE), benefiting around 15,000 children. In addition, the Equal Start Identification Model will be used to target other ECCE-only services catering to high numbers of disadvantaged children, reaching another 10,000.
Currently, childcare regulations require services to provide meals depending on the hours a child attends, with full-day care including two meals and two snacks. However, children in the three-hour free pre-school programme typically bring lunch from home. Bia Blasta will mark the first time dedicated funding is provided for these children, ensuring they too benefit from access to nutritious meals during their pre-school education.
