The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,600 schools and organisations and benefits over 207,000 children. Despite pressure on the social protection budget, the Government allocated an additional €2 million for the programme in 2015, providing a total allocation of €39 million. The provision for the scheme for 2016 will be determined as part of the budgetary process.
The scheme provides support to disadvantaged children and priority is given to schools which are part of the Department of Education and Skills’ initiative for disadvantaged schools, ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’ (DEIS). In line with the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People, Better Outcomes Brighter Futures, the additional €2 million allocated to the school meals programme will be used to provide payments to schools which are part of DEIS. There is a particular focus on the provision of breakfast clubs within the programme which provide very positive outcomes for vulnerable children in terms of their school attendance, punctuality and energy levels.
The cost of further rolling out the scheme to additional schools would depend on the number of pupils involved and the types of food clubs introduced. Details of the food clubs and the maximum rates of payment per meal type are shown in the following tabular statement.
School Meals Programme:
Meal
|
Maximum
Rate of Payment
(per child per day)
|
Examples of Food to be Provided
|
Breakfast/Snack
|
€0.60
|
Cereal, Toast, Scone, Fruit, Yogurt, Milk, Unsweetened Juice-2 Items must be provided
|
Lunch
|
€1.40
|
Filled Sandwich/Roll or Soup & Roll or Salad Plate, plus 2 other items (e.g. Milk, Unsweetened Juice, Fruit, Yogurt)
|
Dinner
|
€1.90
|
Meat, Potatoes & Vegetables or Chicken Curry or Spaghetti Bolognaise, plus a drink (Milk, Unsweetened Juice, Water)
|