Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 April 2024
453. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if he agrees that in Budget 2025 there should be funding allocated to develop and fund a pilot initiative for the expansion of school meals during holiday time by leveraging existing community infrastructure and relationships between schools and summer camps; if he will ensure that this initiative is funded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16755/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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.
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. As part of this significant expansion plan, all remaining primary schools were contacted last year and requested to submit an expression of interest form if their school is interested in commencing the provision of hot school meals.
Expressions of interests were received from over 900 primary schools in respect of 150,000 children and late last year these schools were invited to participate in the Hot School Meals Programme from 8th April 2024.
The school meals programme operates for 36 weeks of the year in respect of primary schools and 33 weeks in respect of post primary schools.
Any decision regarding extending the programme outside of the school year would have to be considered having regard to the wider budgetary context and the capacity at school level. However, I should point out that my immediate priority is to use any additional resources to increase the number of schools who participate in the programme rather than extending the programme for those already in the scheme.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
