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 benefitting 300,000 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 provided €94.4 million for the programme. In February, the Government approvedan additional €14.5m to allow access to the Hot School Meals scheme for all remaining DEIS schools from September 2023.

Entry to the School Meals Scheme has been confined to DEIS schools in addition to schools identified by the Department of Education as having levels of concentrated disadvantage meaning that their students would benefit from access to the School Meals 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 scheme since the introduction of DEIS in 2005 but their level of funding has been capped at the same rate year on year to allow for the concentration of the scheme on DEIS schools. The school in question is a non DEIS school with access to capped funding.

Since my appointment as Minister for Social Protection, I have increased the number of schools with access to the Hot School Meal option from 37 to 1,100. 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, as part of significant plans to extend the Hot School Meals programme,all remaining primary schools were contacted and requested to submit an expression of interest form if their school is interested in commencing the provision of hot school meals. Expressions of interest forms were received from over 900 non DEIS schools in respect of 150,000 children. I understand that an expression of interest has been received from the school referred to by the Deputy.

From 2024, I intend commencing the roll-out of Hot School Meals to all remaining primary schools on a phased basis.

I trust this clarifies the matter.