Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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543. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of schools participating in the school meals scheme in each year between 2010 and 2020; and the amount of funding made available for the scheme per year between 2010 and 2020. [26027/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefitting 230,000 children.  The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them.  The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.

In recent years entry to the School Meals Scheme has been confined to DEIS schools in addition to schools identified as having levels of concentrated disadvantage that would benefit from access to the School Meals Programme.  

The number of schools participating in the schools meals scheme in each year between 2010 and 2020; and the amount of funding made available for the scheme per year between 2010 and 2020 are contained in the attached tabular statement.

I trust that this clarifies the position for the deputy.

Table: The amount of funding made available for the scheme and the number of schools participating in the schools meals scheme between 2010 and 2020

*In 2016/2017, the Department changed to a new payment platform. School/organisation numbers from here on relate to an academic year, rather than a calendar year. The budget relates to the calendar year.