The school meals programme makes an important contribution to ensuring that school children receive better nutrition and contributes to improved school attendance and quality of learning. The current programme provides funding for the urban school meals scheme, which operates in conjunction with certain local authorities, as well as for a number of locally operated school meals projects that are in place in both urban and rural areas.
In 2003, a sum of €3.29 million was spent on the school meals programme. It is estimated that 382 schools, with a total of over 50,650 pupils, benefited from the urban scheme while 347 schools and voluntary organisations received funding which benefited some 26,000 children under local school meals projects. Budget 2004 provided €6.08 million for the programme.
My Department is working with the Department of Education and Science to extend the school meals programme. In this regard the Department of Education and Science is using its schools completion programme and giving children an even break initiative to target disadvantaged schools. It is actively promoting the school meals programme through the local schools completion programme co-ordinators. In addition, my Department is currently contacting those schools which in 2003 indicated an interest in the school meals programme but did not submit a formal application for funding. My Department will also be issuing notifications to schools regarding the school meals programme for the 2004/2005 year in the near future.
A review of the urban and Gaeltacht schools meals schemes, which was published in 2003, made a number of recommendations to focus the scheme on areas of greatest disadvantage. This includes targeting secondary schools with the highest concentration of pupils at risk of early school leaving and their primary feeder schools. In July 2003, invitations to apply for funding under the school meals programme were issued to 217 schools as identified by the Department of Education and Science. During the current school year, September 2003 to June 2004, a total of 119 new projects so far have received funding.
The funding is being used to benefit children participating in breakfast clubs, lunch clubs and homework clubs in the schools concerned. The scheme also supports initiatives that target dispersed disadvantage and children with special needs.