Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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239. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the average daily minutes available for lunch in primary and post-primary schools for 2022 to 2025, with the distribution (median, inter-quartile range), by school; to confirm whether her Department has minimum enforceable standards for time to eat a school meal; and if not, the reason why not, given international evidence that 30 minutes seated eating time is a baseline. [49462/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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At primary level, circular 11/95 “Time in School” paragraph 3 states that a typical school day for Junior classes is 4 hours and 40 minutes and Senior classes 5 hours and 40 minutes with appropriate recreation i.e. 30 minutes.

The circular provides that the minimum time allocated for the ‘Recreational interval’ must not be less than 30 minutes. ?Under the Rules for National Schools, forenoon and afternoon breaks of five minutes each are also allowed. Where a recreation interval/break of a longer duration is taken (for example when children are allowed to have lunch in the classroom prior to the official commencement of the recreation interval/break), the length of the school day must be extended correspondingly.

Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the Board of Management is responsible for the day to day running of a school. The arrangement within the recreation interval/break for pupils/students to eat their lunch is a matter for each Board of Management to determine and the Department has not issued guidelines to primary or post-primary schools in this regard.