Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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385. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she intends to extend the provision of the hot school meals scheme to continue beyond term time in 2022 and throughout the summer months, as it did for the previous academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35271/22]

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.

Funding under the School Meals Programme is normally confined to the academic year but an exception was made in summer 2020 and 2021 in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic.  As restrictions relating to Covid-19 have been lifted, the School Meals Programme has resumed funding for the normal duration of 36 weeks for primary schools and 33 weeks for post primary schools.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.