Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 July 2023
125. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Social Protection whether the allocation for school lunches for secondary schools included in DEIS in 2022 differs from the allocation for existing DEIS secondary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32862/23]
View answerThe School Meals Programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,600 schools and organisations benefitting 260,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.
Budget 2023 provided €94.4 million for the programme. The Government recently approved an additional €14.5m to allow access to the Hot School Meals scheme for all remaining DEIS schools from September 2023.
Funding under the school meals scheme can be provided for breakfast, snack, cold lunch, dinner, hot school meals and afterschool clubs and is based on a maximum rate per child per day, depending on the type of meal being provided, e.g. €1.70 per child per day where a cold lunch club is being provided, €2.50 per child per day where a dinner club is being provided and €3.20 per child per day where a Hot Meal club is being provided. Dinner clubs provide a hot meal but are different from the Hot School Meals clubs in that they tend to be provided by schools with onsite cooking facilities whereas food for Hot Meals clubs is cooked offsite and either delivered hot or reheated in the school. Secondary schools in the DEIS scheme prior to 2022 qualified for a breakfast or snack and a lunch or dinner.
Since my appointment as Minister for Social Protection, I have increased the number of schools with access to the Hot School Meal option from 37 to over 500. I am committed to continuing to expand the School Meals Programme and building further on the significant extension of the programme that has taken place in recent years. In this regard, I intend to roll out the Hot School Meals to all remaining DEIS primary and Special schools from September 2023, benefiting more than 60,000 children.
As part of significant plans to extend the Hot School Meals to all children in the coming years all remaining primary schools have been contacted and have been asked to submit an expression of interest form if their school is interested in commencing the provision of hot school meals. From 2024, I intend commencing the roll-out of Hot School Meals to all remaining primary schools on a phased basis.
Any additional measures to expand the coverage of other meal options to new DEIS secondary schools would have to be considered in a budgetary context. I trust this clarifies the matter.
