Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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844. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she agrees with ETBI that the current rates for the school meal allowance scheme are unrealistic and causing the scheme to be unworkable; if she will request her Department to review the rates to bring them in line with current economic circumstances; and her views on extending the scheme to make it available to all students. [63285/22]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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845. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on whether the school meal allowance scheme should be funded and administered by the Department of Education. [63286/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 844 and 845 together.

The School Meals Programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,600 schools and organisations benefitting 260,000 children.  The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking 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 with an additional €9m provided to allow access to all new DEIS schools from September 2022.  Additional funding for the programme has been provided for 2023 bringing the total to €94.4m.  This represents a 53% funding increase in the period since 2020.

The school meals 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 is operated and administered by local authorities and is part-financed by my department. Legislative authority for the urban school meals scheme is with my Department since 1947.  The school meals (local projects) scheme is a non-statutory scheme, evolved from assistance given to local community groups by my Department since 2003.  There is regular interaction between my Department and the Department of Education to ensure the scheme is operated effectively.

Funding under the school meals programme can be provided for breakfast, snack, cold lunch, dinner, hot school meals and afterschool clubs and is based on a maximum rate per child per day, depending on the type of meal being provided.  

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 commissioned the evaluation of the school meals programme to review all elements of the programme, including the funding rates currently being provided for the various meal options.

I trust this clarifies the matter.