asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason the number of schools meals provided daily dropped so dramatically from 80,443 in 1981 to 62,660 in 1982; and the figure for 1983.

The school meals scheme is administered by local authorities, 50 per cent of the cost being recouped by my Department. The figures available to my Department as to the number of meals provided are supplied by the local authorities concerned. The figures quoted by the Deputy appear in the Department's report but it transpired that in the case of one local authority the number of meals to be provided in 1981 was considerably overestimated. The total actual number of meals provided in 1981 was 59,741 daily. The average daily number receiving meals in 1983 was about 63,500.

That is an extraordinary answer. There is a difference of over 20,000 between the figure estimated by the local authority and the actual figure. Can the Minister explain why this figure was still inaccurate in the latest report produced by his Department which was for 1981-82?

The figures quoted by the Deputy are those referred to in the departmental report in relation to the urban scheme for 1981-82. These figures are based on the schemes submitted by the local authorities prior to the commencement of each year's scheme requesting the Minister's approval for them. Local authorities are required to furnish to the Department the estimated daily numbers who will receive meals in a given calendar year. These are the only numbers of recipients which are supplied. Dublin Corporation, who accounted for 80 per cent of the scheme, submitted details of their scheme for 1981 on 10 December 1980 and estimated the number as 65,000. They now state that the figure supplied was in respect of the average number of children in attendance at schools which operated the meals scheme in the corporation area in 1981. Not all the pupils received meals. It is now estimated that only 44,000 children received meals in the Dublin area in 1981. The higher figure of 65,000 recorded in the statistics and payments ledger was supplied for the departmental report 1981-82. As a result of the revision, the average number of pupils who received meals in the country as a whole for 1981 was 59,741, a decrease of 21,000 on the 80,443 shown in the report.

The Minister's reply is becoming curiouser and curioser. Can he explain how an estimated figure given by Dublin Corporation in 1980 for 1981 was not found to be inaccurate until the end of 1983? Surely by the end of 1981 Dublin Corporation must have advised the Department that their figure was wrong. The estimated figure for 1980 was 21,000 more than the actual figure for 1981. When was the Department informed of the corporation's inaccurate figure?

Dublin Corporation now state that the figure supplied was in respect of the average daily number of children in attendance at the schools. They have only stated that recently.

Does the Department take this scheme seriously at all or have they any interest in the day-to-day administration of it?

This is argument.

Is the scheme monitored to see who is or who is not availing of it?

In 1979 an interdepartmental working group in a review of the school meals scheme considered, inter alia, the adequacy of the content of the meals. In considering this question, the group pointed out that it was only intended as a means of restoring children's energy at a time when it was inclined to flag. It was never intended to take the place of meals provided at home. The group drew attention to the lack of current data regarding the nutritional state of the children. A survey carried out by the Medical Research Council concluded that the proportion of all children examined who were in a poor nutritional state was less than 2½ per cent. It can reasonably be assumed that the situation is now better. There are indications that the towns dropping out of the scheme are doing so because of lack of demand in their area. The school meals scheme was formerly under the general control of the Minister for Local Government and was transferred to the Department of Social Welfare in 1947.

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