Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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433. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the current number of schools and students enrolled in the free hot school lunches primary schools programme, broken down by county; anticipated additional schools and students to be added with the expansion of the scheme in April 2024, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6172/24]

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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434. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection whether there is an evaluation of the packaging and food waste impacts of the free hot school lunches programme; the percentage of packaging that can be and is recycled; the percentage of full lunches left over each day; if there is a Departmental plan to reduce the amount of waste generated as the scheme expands to provide packaged meals for more students; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6173/24]

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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435. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection whether delivery miles and transport emissions involved in distribution of the free hot school lunches programme is being assessed and evaluated; if there is a Departmental plan to address this for the long-term implementation of the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6174/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 433 to 435, inclusive, together.

The objective of the School Meals 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. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering 443,000 children are now eligible for funding.

I am committed to continuing to expand the Hot School Meals Programme and building further on the significant extension of the programme that has taken place in recent years. As part of this significant expansion plan, all remaining primary schools were contacted last year and requested to submit an expression of interest form if their school is interested in commencing the provision of hot school meals.

Expressions of interests were received from over 900 primary schools in respect of 150,000 children and late last year these schools were invited to participate in the Hot School Meals Programme from April 2024. There will be an opportunity for the other primary schools who had subsequently expressed an interest, to do so formally during this year.

The current number of schools and students enrolled in the Hot School meals Programme, broken down by county and anticipated additional schools and students to be added with the expansion of the scheme in April 2024, is contained in the attached tabular statement.

My Department provides the funding for the Hot School Meals Programme directly to the school and it is the responsibility of each individual school to administer the programme in their school. All schools who wish to avail of hot meals for their pupils are responsible for choosing their own school meals supplier on the open market in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with Public Procurement rules.

Under tender documentation as stipulated by the Schools Procurement’s Unit (www.spu.ie), the school meal supplier is responsible for operating policies which progressively addresses environmental considerations such as waste and packaging. My Department does not keep statistics on food waste or packaging.

The method and logistics of supplying the meals is decided by the school. Under tender documentation as stipulated by the Schools Procurement’s Unit (www.spu.ie), the school is committed to the principles of environmental management in its activities and it encourages the implementation of sustainability principles in its procurement practices and that the supplier should make all reasonable efforts to minimise adverse environmental impact in the methods of services delivery and in materials used.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Tabular Statement

Number of Schools by County currently availing of the Hot School Meals by County

Number of Schools by County included in the Hot School Meals Expansion April 2024