Almost 11,000 children missing out on meals as schools forego grants to feed students

Almost 11,000 vulnerable children are missing out on meals each day — because schools have refused to join a State-funded scheme.

The School Meals Programme aims to provide regular nutritious food, mainly through breakfast clubs and lunches, to children who otherwise might not get a meal during the school day.

However, the Department of Social Protection expects that €8m of the total allocation for the scheme will not be spent this year, and have cited the fact that 71 invited schools have failed to join the programme as part of the reason.

Sean Fleming, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said it is “dreadful” that children are not being provided with meals because schools have not taken up the offer of funding.

One in nine children go to bed hungry because they are living in poverty, according to Barnardos.

Mr Fleming called on the Department of Education to make contact with the boards of each of the schools to ask why they have not joined the scheme.

“Approximately 10,000 children are entitled to the school meals programme but for some reason the schools aren’t providing it,” he said.

“I want the department to follow up on that, contact each of the schools. It’s not fair to the children involved.

“I think it is something people should know about.”

The Department of Education have already repeatedly written to these schools asking them to take up the offer of funding.

In correspondence sent to the PAC, the department confirmed that 33 Deis schools and 38 non-Deis schools which qualify for the scheme have not availed of the funding.

One school in Donegal, which has more than 1,000 students, is entitled to €323,165 in funding to provide students with meals, while another in Co Mayo has not availed of €136,598 to feed the 408 pupils attending.

A total of 12 qualifying schools in both Co Donegal and Co Galway are not providing the scheme.

A further 11 across Cork and seven eligible schools in Co Tipperary have not availed of funding.

Barnardos CEO Suzanne Connolly said the priority for schools should be that the children who need school meals get them.

“Nutritious breakfast ensures that children can start the day with food in their tummy, which enables children to concentrate and take part in classroom activities,” she said.

We need to understand the reasons why schools do not draw down funding to provide school meals.

"The detail provided by the department indicates that a wide range of schools, with low and high pupil numbers and in urban and rural counties, have not accessed this allocated funding.”

She suggested that some schools may not have the infrastructure to utilise this funding effectively.

The programme is available to all Deis schools, and support can be provided towards breakfast for all children, and lunch for the majority of children.

The vast majority of Deis schools take part in the scheme. In February 2017, all eligible schools not availing of the meals programme were invited to join.

A further invitation was issued to these schools in June 2018.

“It is still open to them to submit an application,” the department stated.

The scheme was extended to a further 188 non-Deis schools in 2017, 150 of which have taken up the offer.

However, 3,317 children in Deis schools and another 6,455 children in non-Deis who are eligible for the scheme are not receiving it.

Mr Fleming said: “We’re going to ask the department in the first instance to write or communicate with the chairman of the board of each of those schools as to why it’s not happening. Why are the children not getting what they’re entitled to?”

He said the PAC would give schools “a few months” to make progress but said the committee would be expecting a report from the department by the end of March.