Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

569. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the schools that qualify for the school meals scheme under the DEIS and non-DEIS criteria respectively, by county. [6035/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Funding towards school meals is being provided in 1,540 schools and other organisations, supporting over 230,000 children at a cost of some €54 million in 2018, representing an increase of €6.5 million over the previous year. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.

The scheme provides funding for a breakfast for all children and lunch for the majority of children in DEIS schools for the school year from September to June. In recent years priority for new applications has been given to DEIS schools.

For the first time in many years, breakfasts are also now available in the current academic year to some schools outside DEIS that have been identified in consultation with the Department of Education and Skills which has developed a more robust and responsive framework for assessing individual schools levels of concentrated disadvantage.

A list of the DEIS and non-DEIS schools currently participating in the school meals scheme is included in the attached tabular statement.