I propose to take Questions Nos. 791, 794, 795, 860 and 861 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 (USMS) 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 (SMLPS) 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 total cost of the SMLPS in 2019 was €53.6m.
The average monthly cost on the entire programme is €4.5m. The average monthly cost of the USMS is almost €58k with the average monthly cost of the SMLPS being almost €4.5m. This equates to a cost per child per annum of €18.16 for the USMS and €252.40 per child per annum for the SMLPS.
Following the announcement of the closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic, by the Taoiseach on 12th March 2020, schools and organisations participating in the school meals programme expressed concerns about the impact of school closures on pupils who avail of school meals, and that the unavailability of school meals impacts in particular on the most disadvantaged in our society.
My Department confirmed that funding to schools would continue to enable schools provide food until the end of the current school year - the end of May for post-primary schools and the end of June for primary schools, in line with the parameters of the school meals scheme.
Any proposals from schools to extend funding for food provision beyond these dates will be given consideration.