Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand that the Minister needs to put these things on the record, but I hope that in her next contribution, she might be able tell us more about the appeals process. As I have said, there will be schools that are disappointed.

The other issue is that the appeals process needs to be a bit more dynamic, perhaps, than the existing process. We are dealing with five-year-old information. When there is an appeal, schools should have the opportunity to put forward things that might have changed in that period or that the criteria might not have taken into account. I raised this at the meeting yesterday. If there are now additional social housing turnkeys in an area, or there has been an increase in the provision of housing assistance payment, HAP, in the area, such things would change the circumstance.

The other issue I will raise with the Minister is co-operation with the Department of Social Protection. We need to get to a stage where every DEIS school has hot meals. We are a distance away from that. Obviously, the hot meals programme has expanded but we are a distance away from it. Will the Minister work towards that as an objective?

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