Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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153. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current expenditure on the school meals programme in 2017; the full year cost of increasing expenditure on this programme by 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25244/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,460 schools and organisations benefitting over 200,000 children at a total cost of some €47.7 million in 2017. The funding for the scheme was increased this year, as part of Budget 2017, by an additional €5.7 million (almost 14% over the previous year’s allocation) which will benefit over 50,000 children.

In recent years priority for new applications for funding had been given to schools which are part of the DEIS programme. From September 2016 additional funding is available to all DEIS schools to provide breakfast and lunch to the majority of pupils. Budget 2017 funding also provides for the inclusion in the scheme, from September 2017, of up to 245 new schools and 47,000 children. This includes support to schools being brought into DEIS and the extension of the scheme to breakfast clubs in non-DEIS schools, which is the first time in many years that increased funding for school meals is available to non-DEIS schools.

Based on the 2017 budgetary allocation of €47.7 million, the additional annual costs of expanding the school meals programme by 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% are €2.4 million, €4.8 million, €7.2 million and €9.5 million respectively. Changes to increase the funding of any scheme administered by my Department would have to be considered in a budgetary context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.