The Stormont Assembly has passed a Bill to provide financial support for children on free school meals outside of term time. The Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill requires that the 90,000 children in Northern Ireland in receipt of free school meals receive financial help during the holidays, including summer, Christmas, Halloween and half-term breaks.
Sinn Féin MLA Danny Baker, who brought the Private Members Bill, said “poverty isn’t a green and orange issue” as he urged unionist parties to support the legislation. The Bill is expected to cost more than £20 million and would be required to be facilitated by the Department of Education.
Funding concerns raised
Concerns have been raised about the funding of the Bill, which would need to be facilitated by Education Minister Paul Givan’s department. The Department of Education has previously warned it is facing a funding gap of more than £800 million in 2026-27.
Speaking in the final stage of the debate, Mr Baker said passing the legislation is the “very least that we should be doing as MLAs”. He added: “This is an opportunity for us all to go out in the same sort of message. That would be lovely today for all of us to vote together to say we’re here to work for everyone, for all of the children in our communities. Poverty isn’t green and orange, folks, and it shouldn’t come down to that when it comes to this vote today.”
Minister warns of financial impact
Mr Givan said he would be voting for the initiative “if there was sufficient funding within the executive” but that that “is not the position that we are facing”. He told MLAs: “I do think that this is going to be an historic day, but I regret to say, for this Assembly, I think this will be a date which will live in infamy. Though no votes have yet been cast, we can say with a level of certainty that later tonight this Bill will pass its final assembly stage, and in doing so, it will shred whatever residue of financial credibility that this Assembly retains. This is fiscal irresponsibility elevated to a principle, the call for additional fiscal powers for this Assembly will rightly, in my view, be regarded with derision.”
The minister asked MLAs supporting the Bill where they “believe the axe should fall within the Department for Education”. He said: “If you spend money on one thing, you cannot spend it on another and I can only conclude it is an alien concept to those who are backing this Bill. Members speak at length about what they wish to provide, but they remain silent about who will pay for it and what services will have to go without, and when they do make suggestions, they are laughably inadequate.”
Party positions and final vote
Alliance MLA and chair of the Education Committee, Nick Mathison, said his party would be supporting the Bill, expressing his regret that it is “likely to be the only clear anti-poverty legislation that comes before the Assembly in this mandate”. UUP leader Jon Burrows commended Mr Baker’s initiative as a “noble idea” but said his party would not support an “unfunded” measure that involves “writing a cheque the education minister can’t cash”.
SDLP MLA and leader of the Stormont opposition, Matthew O’Toole, said it is a “moral obligation” to “alleviate and improve the condition” of children experiencing poverty and the measure “has to be funded”. In the final vote just after 9pm, 49 members voted in favour and 24 against, as the Bill was passed.
