Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As we all know, Christmas is next week, and I wish the children of Ireland and their families a very happy Christmas, no matter where they are. I wish to discuss children today. I would like the Deputy Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills before the House to tell us what he is doing to support schools around the country in accessing grants to feed their pupils. I read in the newspaper last week that almost 11,000 vulnerable children miss out on their meals each day because eligible schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, are not accessing the State-funded school meals scheme. I am aware that the Committee of Public Accounts has already called on the Minister to write to the school boards in question to query why they are not accessing funding from the school meals programme, which aims to provide regular nutritious food to children. It seems 71 invited schools have failed to join the programme, which leaves the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection with an €8 million unspent portion of its budget. This is incredible. I would call the Minister in myself but I seem to have difficulty getting the relevant Minister to address my Commencement matters. We sometimes seem to have that issue here. Recently it has been a massive issue for me, but that is for another day. Barnardos has cited the shocking statistic that one in nine children goes to bed hungry because of a life lived in poverty. There is a way to get these children some food. We need to figure out where the breakdown is. Some 33 DEIS schools and 38 non-DEIS schools qualified for the scheme. I would like the Minister to explain to us the reason for this and why these schools are not drawing down the funding. Lots of schools in Carlow are crying out for this funding. Is there a lack of communication? What is the answer? The matter is urgent, and I ask for a serious answer to it from the Minister.