Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 July 2022
133. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to an anomaly in the school meals programme whereby newly added schools for the DEIS programme for September 2022 do not qualify for the scheme due to funding shortages; the steps that she will take to bridge this gap in funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34292/22]
View answer519. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans for the continued expansion of the hot school meals programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34868/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 519 together.
The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,800 schools and organisations benefitting 290,000 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 €68.1 million has been provided for the scheme in 2022.
In recent years entry to the school meals programme has been confined to DEIS schools in addition to schools identified as having levels of concentrated disadvantage that would benefit from access to the programme.
Budget 2022 provided for the hot school meals to be extended from January 2022 to the remaining 81 DEIS schools that had expressed an interest in the programme but which were not yet participating. As a result, the number of children in receipt of the hot school meal in June 2022 was 54,266. The full year cost for hot school meals for 54,266 children is €28m.
In March 2022, the Minister for Education announced an extension of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in School to an additional 273 primary and 37 post-primary schools from September 2022.
I have recently announced that the provision of the hot school meal option will be extended to all new DEIS primary schools and the cold lunch option to all new DEIS secondary schools at a full year cost of €26m and benefitting some 60,000 children. However, as 31 of these schools are already in receipt of some funding, the additional cost of providing these options is €23.5m in a full year, with the first-year cost from September to December of €9.5m.
I am committed to continuing to grow the hot school meals element of the school meals programme for DEIS schools and building further on the significant extension announced. In this regard, I have commissioned an evaluation of the school meals programme to be undertaken in 2022 to inform future policy decisions on the scheme.
I trust that this clarifies the position.
