Paul McAuliffe
Question:422. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to extend the hot school meals programme to special schools; and how many schools would benefit from such an expansion. [42623/23]
View answerTuesday, 3 October 2023
Questions (422)
Written answers
The School Meals Programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,700 schools and organisations benefitting 300,000 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. In February, the Government approved an additional €14.5m to allow access to the Hot School Meals scheme for all remaining DEIS schools from September 2023.
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 1,100. 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, the roll out of the Hot School Meals to all remaining DEIS primary and Special schools began in September 2023, benefiting more than 60,000 children.
An additional 7,403 pupils in 111 special schools were invited to apply for the Hot School Meals from September 2023.
As part of significant plans to extend the Hot School Meals programme, all remaining primary schools were contacted and requested to submit an expression of interest form if their school is interested in commencing the provision of hot school meals. Expressions of interest forms were received from over 900 non DEIS schools in respect of 150,000 children. From 2024, I intend commencing the roll-out of Hot School Meals to all remaining primary schools on a phased basis.
I trust this clarifies the matter.