Written answers

Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

School Meals Programme

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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387. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of schools that provide school meals by county in tabular form. [27847/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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388. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of primary schools that provide school meals by county in tabular form. [27848/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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389. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of post-primary schools that provide school meals by county in tabular form. [27849/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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390. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of special schools that provide school meals by county in tabular form. [27850/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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391. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of alternative education settings including youthreach and related schemes that provide school meals by county in tabular form. [27851/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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392. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of schools that provide school meals. [27852/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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393. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of primary schools that provide school meals. [27853/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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394. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of post-primary schools that provide school meals. [27854/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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395. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of special schools that provide school meals. [27855/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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396. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of alternative education settings including youthreach and related schemes that provide school meals. [27856/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 387 to 396, inclusive, together.

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.

The Programme provides funding towards food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes: The urban school meals scheme and the school meals (local projects) scheme. The Urban School Meals Scheme for primary schools is operated and administered by local authorities and is part-financed by my department. 44,095 pupils in 301 primary schools benefit from the Urban School Meals Scheme. 188 of these schools also benefit from funding for school meals through the local projects scheme.

The school meals (local projects) scheme provides funding towards the provision of food to schools and organisations. 214,574 students in 1,393 schools and organisations benefit from the school meals (local projects) scheme.

In recent years entry to the school meals programme has been confined to DEIS schools in addition to schools identified by Department of Education and Skills as having levels of concentrated disadvantage that would benefit from access to the programme.

Prior to the introduction of DEIS in 2005, all schools and organisations that were part of one of a number of Department of Education and Skills’ initiatives for disadvantaged schools were eligible to participate in the programme, which included Breaking the Cycle, Giving Children an Even Break, the Disadvantaged Area Scheme, Home School Community Liaison and the School Completion Programme. These schools and organisations have continued to remain in the programme.

Participation in the scheme is entirely voluntary with the onus being on the individual eligible schools to make an application. Schools and organisations must reapply for funding in advance of each school year and are required to submit detailed records at the end of the school year. Funding is based on a rate of payment per meal, per child, per day.

The number of schools, primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools and alternative education settings that provide school meals by county in tabular form is in table 1 of the attached Tabular Statement.

The percentage of primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools and alternative education settings that provide school meals in tabular form is in table 2 of the below Tabular Statement.

These are the most up to date figures. Applications are still being accepted from schools/organisations who were in the scheme last year and are currently finalising their applications for the current year.

I trust that this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Tabular Statement

Table 1 – Number providing School Meals by County

County Primary Schools Post-Primary Schools Special Schools Alternative Education Settings Number of Schools
Carlow 18 6 1 5 30
Cavan 13 3 1 10 27
Clare 17 5 2 6 30
Cork 52 26 9 26 113
Donegal 120 19 2 9 150
Dublin 183 70 15 79 347
Galway 45 12 5 5 67
Kerry 31 8 2 10 51
Kildare 13 7 1 1 22
Kilkenny 7 6 4 4 21
Laois 11 2 2 1 16
Leitrim 12 0 0 3 15
Limerick 23 10 3 11 47
Longford 11 7 1 2 21
Louth 16 9 1 3 29
Mayo 77 14 4 1 96
Meath 11 5 2 1 19
Monaghan 14 6 0 9 29
Offaly 16 5 1 2 24
Roscommon 21 4 2 5 32
Sligo 21 5 1 2 29
Tipperary 31 11 3 8 53
Waterford 14 6 2 10 32
Westmeath 13 7 2 3 25
Wexford 29 10 2 8 49
Wicklow 11 4 2 2 19

Table 2 – Percentage providing School Meals

Total Number Number providing School Meals % Providing School Meals
Primary Schools 3,107 830 26.71%
Post-Primary Schools 730 267 36.58%
Special Schools 134 70 52.24%
Alternative Educations Settings Not available* 226 Not Available

*The total number of these types of organisations is not held.

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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397. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [27860/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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398. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of primary schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [27861/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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399. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of post-primary schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [27862/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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400. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of special schools that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [27863/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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401. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of alternative education settings including youthreach and related schemes that provide hot school meals by county in tabular form. [27864/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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402. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of schools that provide hot school meals. [27865/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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403. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of primary schools that provide hot school meals. [27866/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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404. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of post-primary schools that provide hot school meals. [27867/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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405. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of special schools that provide hot school meals. [27868/21]

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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406. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of alternative education settings including youthreach and related schemes that provide hot meals. [27869/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 397 to 406, inclusive, together.

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.

Funding under the school meals (local projects) scheme can be provided for breakfast, snack, lunch, dinner, hot meals and afterschool clubs and is based on a maximum rate per child per day, depending on the type of meal being provided e.g. €1.40 per child per day where a cold lunch club is being provided, €1.90 per child per day where a dinner club is being provided and €2.90 per child per day where a Hot Meal club is being provided. Dinner clubs provide a hot meal, but are different from the Hot Meals clubs, in that they tend to be provided by schools with onsite cooking facilities whereas food for Hot Meals clubs is cooked offsite and delivered to the school.

As part of Budget 2019, funding was provided for a pilot scheme from September 2019, providing hot school meals in primary schools at a cost of €1m for 2019 and €2.5m in 2020. The pilot involved 37 schools benefitting 6,744 students for the 2019/2020 academic year and was aimed primarily at schools with no onsite cooking facilities.

In Budget 2021, I announced that an additional €5.5m would be provided to extend the provision of hot school meals to an additional 35,000 primary school children, currently receiving the cold lunch option. My Department issued invitations for expressions of interest to 705 primary schools in November 2020. A total of 281 expressions of interest were received in respect of 52,148 children.

The 35,000 places were allocated to each local authority area based on the number of children applied by local authority as a percentage of the total number. A minimum of one school for each Local Authority area was selected.

As a result of this process, 189 of the 281 schools that submitted an expression of interest were selected.

A breakdown of the number of primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools, alternative education settings and schools by county is contained in table 1 in the attached tabular statement. These figures include schools that provided a dinner club and those that operated the Hot Meals Pilot in 2020/2021.

A breakdown of the percentage of primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools, and alternative education settings is contained in table 2 in the attached tabular statement. These figures include schools that provided a dinner club and those that operated the hot school meals pilot in 2021.

Tabular Statement

Table 1 – Number providing Hot Dinners and Hot School Meals

County Primary Schools Post-Primary Schools Special schools Alternative Education Settings Total Hot Dinners and Hot Meals
Carlow 4 2 0 3 9
Cavan 2 1 1 2 6
Clare 3 0 2 2 7
Cork 8 7 0 9 24
Donegal 13 13 1 1 28
Dublin 40 25 4 39 108
Galway 5 9 3 3 20
Kerry 4 1 0 3 8
Kildare 3 1 1 1 6
Kilkenny 1 4 1 1 7
Laois 2 2 2 0 6
Leitrim 3 0 0 0 3
Limerick 7 4 2 4 17
Longford 0 5 1 2 8
Louth 5 2 1 3 11
Mayo 6 6 4 0 16
Meath 0 5 1 1 7
Monaghan 3 4 0 7 14
Offaly 1 2 1 0 4
Roscommon 2 2 2 3 9
Sligo 4 4 0 2 10
Tipperary 3 5 0 2 10
Waterford 5 2 1 3 11
Westmeath 1 2 1 3 7
Wexford 4 4 0 2 10
Wicklow 4 1 0 0 5

Table 2 – Percentage providing Hot Dinner or Hot School Meal

Total Number Number providing Hot Dinner or Hot School Meal % Providing Hot School Meals
Primary Schools 3,107 133 4.28%
Post-Primary Schools 730 113 15.48%
Special Schools 134 29 21.64%
Alternative Educations Settings Not available* 96 Not Available

*The total number of these types of organisations is not held.

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