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School Meals Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2021

Thursday, 8 July 2021

Questions (249, 250)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

249. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an enhanced school meals programme for 2022 and beyond; if she has consulted with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in this regard; and if she has requested additional funding for the school meals programme for future years. [36865/21]

View answer

Catherine Murphy

Question:

250. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to allocate additional funding in respect of the school meals programme for 2022 and beyond. [36866/21]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 249 and 250 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 students in 301 primary schools benefit from the Urban School Meals Scheme. 188 of these schools also benefit from the local projects scheme.

As part of Budget 2019, funding was provided for 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 involved 37 schools benefitting 6,744 students for the 2019/2020 academic year and was aimed primarily at schools with no onsite cooking facilities.

In Budget 2021, I announced that an additional €5.5m would be provided to extend the provision of hot school meals to an additional 35,000 primary school children, currently receiving the cold lunch option.

Participation in the scheme is entirely voluntary. 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. Applications are accepted from individual schools and organisations as well as organisations such as School Completion Programmes who apply for multiple schools. The application process for 2021/2022 is currently open.

Any request for additional funding for an enhanced school meals programme for 2022 and beyond will need to be considered as part of the budgetary process and, as is usual, I will work closely with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in that context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Question No. 250 answered with Question No. 249.
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