The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to schools and organisations at a total cost of some €47.5 million in 2017. This Department does not use the Pobal HP Deprivation Index to determine eligibility for the school meals scheme. As I have already advised the Deputy, in recent years priority for new applications for funding had been given to schools which are part of the DEIS programme, designed to give tailored support to schools who have high concentration of disadvantage. For the first time in many years, breakfasts are also now available to some schools outside DEIS that have been identified in consultation with the Department of Education and Skills which has developed a more robust and responsive framework for assessing individual schools levels of concentrated disadvantage.
While there have been expansions to the school meals scheme, any further changes to increase the funding to allow an extension to crèches would have to be considered in a budgetary context.
I trust this clarifies the matter at this time.