I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for giving me a platform to raise this matter. I welcome the Minister of State. I thank him for the good work he is doing in the Department as part of the Government's programme. We appreciate it.

The free school meals programme is outstanding. I compliment the Government, which has constantly acknowledged this. More schools will be in the programme from this year and there will be a significant increase in funding. In 2017, the figure was €47 million. In the most recent budget, €68.1 million was put aside for the free school meals programme. It is a vital programme. It ensures that children who may not get a hot meal at home, whatever the circumstances are, will have a meal in school. The vast majority of the general public think it is a very good scheme.

There are difficulties with the programme and I am sure the Minister of State is aware of them. I have spoken to a few of the suppliers. They are warning they will not be able to continue to provide the service in the coming months due to rising costs. We see the cost of fuel increasing because of the war. We see the cost of food increasing. One of the biggest costs the suppliers have is packaging. Those preparing meals and food must have the proper packaging and hygiene standards. It is very important. The education and training boards in Ireland have expressed serious concern about the situation. I do not believe the rates of payment have changed in ten years. It is €2.90 per student for a hot meal, €1.40 for a lunch and 60 cent for a breakfast. These rates have not changed in almost a decade. I am sure the Minister of State and the House will agree that this is not sustainable.

It is important to state that the Government is committed to the scheme. I compliment the Department of Social Protection, the Minister, the Minister of State and the officials on the work they are doing in respect of it. I acknowledge that the scheme is being evaluated at present but I warn on the time span for this. We cannot afford to hang around too long on this matter. More and more suppliers will drop out. This would be a tragedy. It is one of the best schemes we could have. It is focused on young people who may not be getting a meal at home. From speaking to them, people genuinely believe that the scheme is fantastic. The Government is aware of this. The Minister of State is very aware of it, as is the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.

I am worried about the time span for the review. When will the evaluation come to an end? I do not know whether the Minister of State will have news for me on this today. If he does not, I urge that we carry out the evaluation as quickly as possible so we do not allow a situation to arise in any school in the scheme whereby a child would go without this very valuable meal.

I will not take up any more time on it. I have made my case to the Minister of State and he understands where I am coming from. I appreciate the Government understands there is a problem there but we need to address it as quickly as possible.

I thank Senator Murphy and now call on the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien who has four minutes to respond.

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. As Chair of the food poverty working group, which includes representatives of government Departments and civil society, I am a strong supporter of the school meals programme and its recent expansion. 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 position them to take 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 2022 provided €68.1 million for the programme with an additional €9 million provided to allow access to all new DEIS schools from September 2022. Additional funding for the programme has been provided for 2023 bringing the total to €91.6 million. This represents a 49% funding increase in the period since 2020.

In March 2022, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, announced an extension of the DEIS status to an additional 320 schools from September. In July, the Minister of State, Deputy Humphreys, announced that access to the hot school meal option would be extended to the 282 newly designated DEIS primary schools and that the cold lunch option would be extended to the 38 newly designated DEIS secondary schools from September, benefitting some 60,000 children. Funding under the school meals programme can be provided for breakfast, snack, cold lunch, dinner, hot school meals and after-school clubs and is based on a maximum rate per child per day, depending on the type of meal being provided. The current school meals programme was set up in 2003. The funding rates for the various meal options were set at that time. However, the hot school meal option was introduced in 2019, to facilitate the provision of hot meals prepared off-site to pupils attending primary schools which did not have cooking facilities on-site. The hot school meal rate of €2.90 per meal per day was set in 2019.

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I are committed to continuing to expand the school meals programme and building further on the significant extension of the programme in recent years. In this regard, an evaluation of the school meals programme to review all elements of the programme, including the funding rates currently being provided for the various meal options, has been commissioned. The final report is due to be completed by the end of the year and will help to inform future decisions around this important programme. Issues regarding the funding rates will be considered in the context of this evaluation. I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it is a key and crucial to our work in the Department.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien. The Senator has one minute to respond.

I welcome the response from the Minister of State. I am particularly glad he points out that this evaluation should be finished by the end of the year and that the cost factor in terms of the meals will be looked at because that is what is needed now. Again, I complement him on the work he does in that area. The funding is even more significant than I thought which is great news. As I have said, I spoke to one supplier last night and one or two others last week, and a few schools had contacted me as well. The cost of packaging and other things are massive at the moment and we all understand that cost-of-living issue is there and I am sure the Government accepts that as well. I will not detain the Minister of State any longer on this. I welcome his response and thank him for coming the House this morning to give us time on this matter.

I again thank the Senator for raising the matter. To give a little more information on the evaluation commissioned earlier this year, it involved close consultation with all the stakeholders and workshops and interviews have been conducted with teachers, principles, children as well as suppliers. Key issues to be explored as part of the evaluation include: whether the schools meals programme meets its aims; what the practicalities are for schools moving to a hot school meals option; what works well and what is not working well; how the programme can be better delivered; the extent to which the school meals programme has improved school attendance and education attainment; how the scheme compares with other programmes in other countries; what might be the implications of extending the scheme; what are the implications of the EU child guarantee for the school meals programme; and indeed the cost issue the Senator has raised as well. As I said, the final report is due to be completed at the end of the year; we are hoping it will be done in the next two weeks.