Written answers

Tuesday, 24 May 2005

Department of Social and Family Affairs

School Meals

9:00 pm

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 89: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of schools receiving assistance from his Department in the provision of school meals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12951/05]

Photo of Dan BoyleDan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the changes which will be proposed to the school meals programme operated by his Department after the recommendations of the Government task force on obesity. [17132/05]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 and 93 together.

The school meals programme operated by my Department gives funding towards provision of food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes. The first is the statutory urban school meals scheme currently operated by 36 local authorities. The Department jointly funds the food costs with these local authorities, which also manage and fund the administration of the scheme. The second is the school meals local projects scheme. This provides funding to participating schools and voluntary community groups in both urban and rural areas for specific school meals projects. This has recently been expanded to include pre-schools that are community based and which operate on a not-for-profit basis.

In the case of these local projects, my Department funds the food costs based on a rate per meal per child. The amount of funding allocated to a project depends on the type and number of meals provided. The current rates of funding for the various meal types are as follows: breakfast, 60 cent; light meal, €1.40; and dinner, €1.90. Expenditure on the school meals programme was €4.65 million in 2004. A total of 41,300 children benefited in 451 schools under the local projects scheme at a cost of €3.56 million. During the current school year from September 2004 to June 2005, some 47,400 children in 572 schools and 53 pre-schools are benefiting.

In 2004, the local authorities' urban school meals scheme provided support for 386 primary schools, covering 50,817 pupils, at a cost to my Department of €1.09 million. Local authorities themselves contributed a matching amount and also met the administrative costs involved in that scheme. I expect a similar number of children to benefit through this scheme in 2005.

The school meals programme aims to provide regular nutritious food to children to help improve their daily diet. Apart from the nutritional gain, it is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement by the children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The type and range of meals provided, as well as the method and logistics of supplying the meals, are decided by the individual local groups and schools that operate the projects. In this regard, I encourage participating schools and community groups to use healthy food items to the greatest extent possible in the preparation of school meals.

My Department will study the task force report on obesity to see if there is further scope for the scheme to assist in tackling this problem amongst children. More widespread take-up of the school meals scheme would obviously help significantly in this regard. Funding is available from my Department to expand participation in the scheme and I would encourage any school or community group working in disadvantaged areas to avail of this funding to start providing this service for their children.

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