Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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486. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the funding that her Department has put in place for the 2023 school meals programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49546/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The School Meals Programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,700 schools and organisations and benefitting 260,000 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.

Budget 2022 provided €68.1 million for the programme.

I am pleased that my estimate for school meals next year provides for an increase of €23.5m on the 2022 estimate, bringing the total to €91.6m.

I am committed to continuing to expand the school meals programme and building further on the significant extension of the programme in recent years. In this regard, I have commissioned an evaluation of the school meals programme, which is currently underway. As part of this review all elements of the programme will be considered.

I trust this clarifies the matter.