Skip to main content
Normal View

School Meals Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 June 2021

Tuesday, 22 June 2021

Questions (418, 419)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Question:

418. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount of funding allocated to provide lunch to children attending DEIS primary schools. [33367/21]

View answer

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Question:

419. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of primary schools, secondary schools and the number of organisations each taking part in the school meals programme. [33368/21]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 418 and 419 together.

The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefitting 230,000 children.  The objective of the programme 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.  The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.

A budget of €65.1 million has been provided for the scheme in 2021.

The Programme provides funding towards food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes - the urban school meals scheme and the school meals (local projects) scheme.  The Urban School Meals Scheme for primary schools is operated and administered by local authorities and is part-financed by my Department. 44,095 pupils in 301 primary schools benefit from the Urban School Meals Scheme.  188 of these schools also benefit from funding for school meals through the local projects scheme.

The school meals (local projects) scheme provides funding towards the provision of food to schools and organisations.  214,574 students in 1,396 schools and organisations benefit from the school meals (local projects) scheme. 

 In recent years entry to the school meals programme has been confined to DEIS schools in addition to schools identified by Department of Education and Skills as having levels of concentrated disadvantage that would benefit from access to the programme.  

Prior to the introduction of DEIS in 2005, all schools and organisations that were part of one of a number of Department of Education and Skills’ initiatives for disadvantaged schools were eligible to participate in the programme, which included Breaking the Cycle, Giving Children an Even Break, the Disadvantaged Area Scheme, Home School Community Liaison and the School Completion Programme.  These schools and organisations have continued to remain in the programme. 

Participation in the scheme is entirely voluntary with the onus being on the individual eligible schools to make an application.  Schools and organisations must reapply for funding in advance of each school year and are required to submit detailed records at the end of the school year.  Funding is based on a rate of payment per meal, per child, per day.

The number of primary schools, secondary schools and the number of organisations taking part in the School Meals Programme are contained in the attached Tabular Statement.

The total amount of funding allocated to provide lunch to children attending DEIS primary schools in 2020/2021 was €21.4m.

These are the most up to date figures. Applications are still being accepted from schools/organisations that were in the scheme last year and are currently finalising their applications for the current year. 

I trust that this clarifies the position for the Deputy.   

Breakdown of the number of primary schools, secondary schools and organisations taking part in the School Meals Programme

Type

Number

Primary

900

Secondary

269

Organisations

227

Grand Total

1,396

Question No. 419 answered with Question No. 418.
Top
Share