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School Meals Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 December 2020

Wednesday, 9 December 2020

Ceisteanna (136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

136. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of primary schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [42193/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

137. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of post-primary schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [42194/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

138. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of special schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [42195/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

139. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of alternative education settings including Youthreach and related schemes that provide hot school meals by count, in tabular form. [42196/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

140. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [42197/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

141. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of primary schools that provide hot school meals. [42198/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

142. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of post-primary schools that provide hot school meals. [42199/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

143. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of special schools that provide hot school meals. [42200/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

144. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of alternative education settings including Youthreach and related schemes that provide hot meals. [42201/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 to 144, inclusive, together.

The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,557 schools and organisations benefitting 227,000 children.  The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take 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 is based on a rate of payment per meal, per child, per day.  Up until 2019, a hot meal was only provided through a dinner club which was primarily offered in schools with onsite cooking facilities.

As part of Budget 2019, funding was provided for a pilot scheme from September 2019, providing hot school meals in primary schools at a cost of €1m for 2019 and €2.5m in 2020.  The pilot involved 37 schools benefitting 6,744 students for the 2019/2020 academic year and was aimed primarily at schools with no onsite cooking facilities. 

Budget 2020 provided an additional €4 million in funding to extend the hot meals for children currently receiving the cold lunch option, which would allow my department to extend the hot meals to an additional 35,000 children.  A decision was made to delay the extension of the hot meals to January 2021 because of the closure of schools due to the Covid-19 Pandemic from 13 March 2020.  In budget 2021, I have provided an additional €5.5m for this extension from January 2021 to 35,000 primary school children currently receiving the cold lunch option.  Officials from my department are currently engaging with schools in relation to this measure.

A breakdown of the number of primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools, alternative education settings and schools by county is contained in table 1 in the attached tabular statement. These figures include schools that provided a dinner club and those that operated the Hot Meals Pilot in 2019/2020.

A breakdown of the percentage of primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools, and alternative education settings is contained in table 2 in the attached tabular statement. These figures include schools that provided a dinner club and those that operated the hot school meals pilot in 2019/2020.

 Table 1 – Number providing Hot Dinners and Hot School Meals

County

Primary Schools

Post-Primary Schools

Special schools

Alternative Education Settings

Total Hot Dinners and Hot Meals

Carlow

3

1

0

3

7

Cavan

1

1

1

2

5

Clare

2

0

2

3

7

Cork

4

7

0

9

20

Donegal

5

14

1

1

21

Dublin

17

24

4

43

88

Galway

3

8

2

2

15

Kerry

3

1

1

5

10

Kildare

3

3

1

1

8

Kilkenny

1

4

1

2

8

Laois

2

2

2

0

6

Leitrim

1

0

0

0

1

Limerick

4

4

1

3

12

Longford

1

5

1

2

9

Louth

3

2

1

4

10

Mayo

3

6

4

0

13

Meath

1

3

1

1

6

Monaghan

1

5

0

6

12

Offaly

1

2

1

0

4

Roscommon

1

1

2

3

7

Sligo

4

4

1

2

11

Tipperary

2

3

1

2

8

Waterford

5

1

1

3

10

Westmeath

1

2

0

3

6

Wexford

1

1

1

2

5

Wicklow

2

0

0

0

2

Total:

75

104

30

102

311 

 Table 2 – Percentage providing Hot Dinner or Hot School Meal

 

Total Number

Number providing School Meals

% Providing School Meals

Primary Schools

3105

75

2.42%

Post-Primary Schools

722

104

14.4%

Special Schools

134

30

22.39%

Alternative Educations Settings

Not available*

102

Not Available

* The total number of these types of organisations is not held.

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