Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2020
993. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the allocations made to the school meals programme in each of the past five years; the number of schools and students in receipt of same in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10958/20]
View answer994. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the allocations made to the hot school meal programme since its inception; the number of schools and students in receipt of same in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10959/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 993 and 994 together.
The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,580 schools and organisations benefitting 250,000 children. The objective of the scheme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.
The statutory Urban School Meals Scheme for primary schools is operated by sixteen Local Authorities in some 300 schools and benefitting approximately 50,000 children. It is part-financed by the Department which contributed just over €0.9m in 2018 and €0.7m in 2019.
The non-statutory School Meals (Local Projects) Scheme provides funding directly from the Department to primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools, local groups and voluntary not for profit organisations operating their own School meals projects. The allocations made and the number of schools and students in receipt of same is contained in table 1 in the Appendix.
As part of Budget 2019, I announced that my Department would commence a pilot scheme from September 2019, providing hot school meals in primary schools at a cost of €1m for 2019 and €2.5m in 2020. The pilot involves 37 schools benefitting 6,744 students for the 2019/2020 academic year.
The allocations made to the hot school meal programme since its inception and the number of schools and students in receipt of same is contained in table 2 in the Appendix.
Appendix
Table 1 - School Meals (Local Projects) Scheme Total Allocation, Number of Children benefitting and Number of Schools and Organisations benefitting for the last 5 years.
|
Year |
2015-2016 |
2016-2017 |
2017-2018 |
2018-2019 |
2019-2020 |
|
Children Benefitting |
|
165,141 |
201,370 |
207,459 |
212,584 |
|
Schools & Organisations Benefitting |
|
1,302 |
1,463 |
1,460 |
1,439 |
|
Total Funds Allocated |
€40,530,000 |
€45,670,000 |
€53,600,000 |
€53,790,000 |
€59,630,000 |
Note: A breakdown of number of children benefitting and number of schools and organisations benefitting is only available for the last 4 years since the school meals scheme was migrated to the Department’s central IT Platform.
Table 2 - Hot School Meals pilot Total allocation, Number of Schools and Number of Children benefitting.
|
School Year |
2019/2020 |
|
Number of Schools |
37 |
|
Number of Students |
6,744 |
|
Total Allocation |
€3,140,000 |
