Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
754. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of students at primary and post-primary respectively provided with free school meals in 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form. [14224/24]
View answer755. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated average cost of providing school meals per child in primary and post-primary schools respectively, in the academic years 2022-2023 and to date in 2023-2024, in tabular form. [14225/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 754 and 755 together.
The objective of the School Meals 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. Following the expansion of the Programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering 443,000 children are now eligible for funding.
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 details requested in the questions are contained in the attached tabular statement.
I trust this clarifies the matter.
Tabular Statement
Table 1 - The number of students at primary and post-primary schools provided with free school meals in the academic years 2022-2023 and to date in 2023-2024
|
School/Org Type |
2022/2023 |
2023/2024 |
|
Children Benefiting - Primary Schools |
166,711 |
219,177 |
|
Children Benefiting - Secondary Schools |
90,080 |
82,233 |
|
Children Benefitting - Other Organisations |
9,423 |
8,345 |
|
Children Benefiting - Total (All Meals) |
266,214 |
309,755 |
Table 2 – The estimated average cost of providing school meals per child in primary and post-primary schools, in the academic years 2022-2023 and to date in 2023-2024
|
School/Org Type 2022/2023 |
Pupils Benefitting |
Allocation |
Yearly Average Cost Per Pupil |
Daily Average Cost Per Pupil |
|
Primary Schools |
166,711 |
€83,743,507 |
€502.33 |
€2.80 |
|
Secondary Schools |
90,080 |
€31,146,534 |
€345.77 |
€2.10 |
|
Organisations |
9,423 |
€2,276,213 |
€241.56 |
€1.34 |
|
Children Benefiting - Total (All Meals) |
266,214 |
€117,166,254 |
||
|
School/Org Type 2023/2024 |
Pupils Benefitting |
Allocation |
Yearly Average Cost Per Pupil |
Daily Average Cost Per Pupil |
|
Primary Schools |
219,177 |
€106,436,180 |
€485.62 |
€2.70 |
|
Secondary Schools |
82,233 |
€31,823,315 |
€386.99 |
€2.35 |
|
Organisations |
8,345 |
€2,079,573 |
€249.20 |
€1.38 |
|
Children Benefiting - Total (All Meals) |
309,755 |
€140,339,068 |
