Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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57. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the funding allocated to the school meals programme and the school books grant. [19277/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Government has allocated an additional €2 million for the school meals programme in 2015, providing a total allocation of €39 million. The programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,600 schools and organisations which benefits 207,000 children.

The additional €2 million will be used to increase payments to existing schools which are part of the Department of Education and Skill’s initiative for disadvantaged schools ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’, (DEIS), with a focus on the provision of breakfast clubs. The Department is currently considering options regarding the allocation of the additional funding.

Funding of the school books grant scheme is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills.