Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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100. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of breakfast clubs being operated nationally; her views on such clubs; and if her Department is encouraging the creation of more clubs of this nature. [40025/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services for disadvantaged children through two schemes. The first is the statutory urban school meals scheme, operated by local authorities and part-financed by the Department. The second is the school meals local projects schemes through which funding is provided directly to participating schools and local and voluntary community groups who run their own school meals projects. The Government has allocated an additional €2 million for the school meals programme in 2013, providing a total allocation of €37 million.

Under the school meals local projects scheme, funding is provided towards breakfast/snack, lunch and/or dinner clubs. It is the responsibility of the school/organisation as to which club they choose to operate. In the academic year 2012/13 there were approximately 550 breakfast/snack clubs funded under the school meals local projects scheme out of a total of over 2,000 food clubs. The Department is currently in the process of finalising applications from some additional 80 schools to the scheme for the new school year.

Priority for funding under the school meals locals projects scheme is given to schools which are part of the Department of Education and Skills’ initiative for disadvantaged schools, ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’ (DEIS). Following the provision of the additional €2 million funding this year, the Department wrote to approximately 170 DEIS schools encouraging expressions of interest in participating in the school meals scheme for the current school year. The Department also contacted a further 11 schools/groups who had previously made an application to join the scheme inviting them to participate in the scheme for the final term of the 2012/2013 school year – which one group, a School Completion Programme in Co. Wicklow accepted and joined the scheme during May 2013.

In addition to the schools meals programme, the Department, through its child and social inclusion policy division, provided funding of €22,500 in the form of a social inclusion grant to Healthy Food for All (HFfA) in 2013. The purpose of this funding is to support programme activities aimed at improving access to a healthy and affordable diet. The HFfA's breakfast club initiative is one of a number of programme activities co-ordinated nationally by HFfA to address food poverty in local schools and communities. This food poverty initiative adds value to the Government’s investment in the school meals programme.

I am fully supportive of these programmes that aim to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, by reason of lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided for them.