Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I thank him for taking this important Commencement matter I have tabled. It relates to St. Anne's Secondary School in Tipperary town. I have two questions for the Minister of State. One relates to an application for additional space, essentially for an extension or new building for the students and the school. It is important. They have a lot of space in the area to build on. I was in the school recently with the principal, John Cullinane. The principal, staff and board of management do great work, but the school is not fit for purpose. It needs to be a modern facility for the girls in the school. I would appreciate an update on the application that has been made.

My more immediate request is for an update on the school meals programme, which the Minister of State and the Department of Social Protection are very much involved in. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Department have done a lot to roll out free school meals in recent years, which has been hugely welcome and is a massive support for schools, especially in disadvantaged areas. The problem we have in Tipperary and in St. Anne's Secondary School is that it is the only school in Tipperary town that is not classed as a DEIS school. A year or two ago, all five primary schools and one of the secondary schools in Tipperary town were classed as DEIS schools, which means they receive the advantage of free school meals. St. Anne's Secondary School has students who come from the same areas of the same region, Tipperary town and its hinterland and 48% of its current enrolment comes from those DEIS schools.

Prior to the primary schools being allocated DEIS status in September 2022, St. Anne's Secondary School was still the only school that could not access the school meals programme. The rationale provided for this at the time was that the school was not a DEIS school. However, the other schools were not DEIS schools either at the time and they could access the school meals programme. The school meals funding is administered through the Department of Social Protection and St. Anne's Secondary School requires recognition of being in a disadvantaged community and that the cohort of students it serves come from a disadvantaged area. Tipperary town is a Revitalising Areas through Planning, Investment and Development, RAPID, programme town but it is one of the most disadvantaged areas in Munster. The way the school meals programme looks at it relates to whether a school is a DEIS school. The understanding is that the school meals scheme is confined to DEIS schools in addition to schools identified by the Department of Education as having levels of concentrated disadvantage, meaning that their students would benefit from access to the school meals programme. St. Anne's Secondary School fits the criterion of being in an area of disadvantage. All other schools in the area are DEIS schools. We do not necessarily immediately have to class it as a DEIS school, but we can provide the school meals programme if we can get agreement from the Department of Education, which seems simple given that every other school in Tipperary town has it. It should be classed as a school in a concentrated disadvantaged area so that it can be provided with free school meals.

It is a wonderful school with wonderful children, but as the Minister of State will be aware, some children do not come to school having been fed. The primary concern of the principal, the board of management and all the staff in that school is the welfare of their students and they know that they are not receiving equal support from the Department compared to the other schools in Tipperary town.