Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 434: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if a school (details supplied) in County Donegal has made an application for the school meals programme; and if their application was successful. [35534/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school meals programme gives funding towards provision of food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes. The first is the long-standing statutory urban school meals scheme, which is operated by local authorities and part-financed by the Department. The second is the school meals local projects scheme through which funding is provided by the Department to participating schools and voluntary community groups in both urban and rural areas, who are running specific school meals projects.

There is no record of an application having been received from the school concerned for funding under the school meals local projects scheme. Priority for funding under the scheme is, in the first instance, confined to schools in the Department of Education & Science's initiative for disadvantaged schools, 'Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools' (DEIS). The school mentioned in the Deputy's question is not a DEIS school.