Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The extended roll-out of the hot meals programme to schools has been welcomed, I think, by all schools. There might be questions about the quality on occasions but that is for another day. Baineann an cheist atá á cur os comhair na Dála agam inniu leis na costais bhreise atá i gceist chun na béilí a chur chuig na hoileáin. I understand that a school on the Aran Islands has incurred an extra cost of more than €100 per month - I understand it may be as much as €120 - because of transport and freight costs. It has written to the Department of Social Protection, but there has been no move yet to deal with the matter. I know that the Government's policy is to roll out this programme so that all schools have it, but I do not think it was envisaged that island schools would incur extra costs in order to benefit from the scheme. I ask the Taoiseach to deal with this.

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