Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 October 2023
140. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider adding the provision of lunch to coeliac children through the school meals programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44368/23]
View answerThe 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.
Funding under the School Meals Programme 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. These meals must meet the nutritional standards for the school meals programme.
The Nutritional Standards for School Meals were developed by a working group led by the Health and Wellbeing Programme in the Department of Health, in consultation with Safefood and the Healthy Eating and Active Living Programme in the Health Service Executive.
Each school is required to provide a menu choice of at least two different meals per day and where required, provide a vegetarian/vegan option and an option that caters for students’ religious and cultural dietary requirements. The Nutritional Standards also specify that the provision of food for those with allergies must comply with the Standards.
There are numerous suppliers of school meals nationwide with no one person or body holding the contract to provide meals for the programme. The Department provides the funding directly to the schools, who are then required to procure the provision of the food in compliance with Government procurement rules and with relevant HACCP, Food Safety regulations and the Nutritional Standards for School Meals. It is down to the individual schools to ensure they source a supplier that can meet the dietary requirements of all their pupils.
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, 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.
