Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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111. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 263 of 2 March 2023, if she has completed the review of the final report from the evaluation of the school meals programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15174/23]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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141. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 53 of 9 February 2023, the status of the examination of the final report of the review of the school meals programme; when the final report will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15172/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 141 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 2023 has provided €94.4 million for the programme. The Government has recently approved an additional €14.5m to allow access to the Hot School Meals scheme for all remaining DEIS schools from September 2023.

I am committed to continuing to expand the school meals programme and building further on the significant extension of the programme that has taken place in recent years. In this regard, I intend to roll out the Hot School Meals to all DEIS primary schools from September 2023, benefiting 64,500 children. I will also bring forward proposals in the coming weeks on commencing the roll out of the Hot School Meals to non-DEIS primary schools.

In addition, the final report from the evaluation of the school meals programme has been completed and is under consideration. The evaluation examined all elements of the programme including the funding rates currently provided. This report will help to inform future decisions around this important programme and will be published in the coming weeks.

I trust this clarifies the matter.