I propose to take Questions Nos. 665, 670 and 671 together.
The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to schools and organisations benefitting over 200,000 children at a total cost of €42 million in 2016. The objective of the scheme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them.
Details of the allocation to the school meals programme each year since 2006 is provided in the attached tabular statement. Details of the number of schools and students that availed of the programme since the academic year 2009/2010 are also provided. These figures are not available for the period between 2006 and 2009.
In the previous school year, 25 schools from counties Cavan and Monaghan participated in the school meals programme which represented an increase of 1 school over the previous year. This information is provided on a county basis in the attached tabular statement.
Table 1: Budget allocation for the School Meal Programme
Year
|
Allocated Funding
|
2006
|
€10.4m
|
2007
|
€16.6m
|
2008
|
€32m
|
2009
|
€35m
|
2010
|
€35m
|
2011
|
€35m
|
2012
|
€35m
|
2013
|
€37m
|
2014
|
€37m
|
2015
|
€39m
|
2016
|
€42m
|
Table 2: Number of schools and students benefiting from the School Meal Programme per year
School Meals Local Projects Scheme
|
School Meals Local Projects Scheme
|
School Meals Local Projects Scheme
|
Urban School Meals Scheme*
|
Urban School Meals Scheme*
|
Urban School Meals Scheme*
|
School Year
|
Schools
|
Pupils
|
Year
|
Schools
|
Pupils
|
2009/2010
|
1,065
|
144,582
|
2009
|
364
|
51,916
|
2010/2011
|
1,059
|
135,243
|
2010
|
324
|
57,473
|
2011/2012
|
1,005
|
136,884
|
2011
|
332
|
49,317
|
2012/2013
|
1,037
|
146,981
|
2012
|
305
|
47,448
|
2013/2014
|
1,128
|
151,292
|
2013
|
306
|
55,657
|
2014/2015
|
1,160
|
155,472
|
2014
|
332
|
62,107
|
2015/2016
|
1,175
|
166,761
|
2015
|
301
|
55,371
|
* The Urban School Meals Scheme is administered and operated by the Local Authorities with the Department of Social Protection providing funding of 50% of the food costs. Some overlap exists in relation to the schools and pupils in both schemes. For example, a school may operate a breakfast club under one scheme and a lunch club under another.
Table 3: Number of Schools in the School Meals Programme in Cavan/Monaghan
Number of Schools in the School Meals Programme
County
|
2014/2015
|
2015/2016
|
Cavan
|
12
|
12
|
Monaghan
|
12
|
13
|