Cork County Borough School Meals Committee Minutes
TitelCork County Borough School Meals Committee Minutes
SignaturCP/CO/SM/M
Datum
19 April 1915 – 18 December 1984
Datum 1915 - 1984
Form und InhaltThe Education (Provision of Meals) (Ireland) Act 1914 provided ‘that the Local Authority may take such steps as they think fit to provide meals for necessitous school children’, ‘necessitous’ meaning school children ‘who by reason of lack of food are unable to take full advantage of the education provided for them’. This led to the creation by Cork Corporation of a School Meal Committee for the County Borough of Cork. It was resolved at the meeting of 31 May 1915 that the new School Meals Committee should consist of members of the Corporation’s Public Health Committee, the manager of each national school, and one representative from each of several charitable or civic bodies. Over time, the composition of the committee changed, with membership largely consisting of councillors, priests, nuns, and teachers.
In April 1915, reports were read which suggested roughly 1300 children in Cork would be supplied with one meal a day, at a cost of one and a half pence each, and that breakfast or an early luncheon would be preferable as benefitting children more. Returns of numbers of necessitious children were queried by the committee and school patrons, and at the meeting of 5 July 1915 a standard of 10% of the number on the school rolls was adopted as a guide. It was also decided that meals should be supplied on at least 76 days of the year, in the months from November to February. It was noted that this would cost £650, meaning £300, in addition to the £350 given by the Corporation, would need to be raised. It was agreed to circulate an appeal for funds. The Corporation funding was based on a rate struck.
At the next meeting, on 19 July, a sub-committee report setting forth a scheme for the provision of school meals was adopted. This proposed that grants be made to managers of national schools, and that the managers would decide which children qualified as necessitous. At the meeting of 14 October 1915 a return by the Executive Sanitary Officer stated the names of schools, numbers on rolls, numbers ‘necessitous’, and amount recommended, amounting to £659 16s 6d, covering 1387 children in 22 schools. Such returns recur throughout the minutes.
Meetings recommending payments of amounts for each year initially took place in October or November. Other meetings generally examined and approved accounts, ordered payments, and acknowledged subscriptions received.
Local Government Board regulations issued after the amendment of the School Meals Act in 1917, ruled that schools not under the control of the Commissioners for National Education could not benefit from the scheme. This affected Cork’s Christian Brothers’ schools and was strongly contested by the Committee (eg, 7 January 1919). The committee organised its first flag day, and money raised appears to have been used to open a second account from which grants to Christian Brothers schools could be paid. In January 1925, a letter was read from the Minister for Local Government agreeing to the extension of the acts to include ‘schools (other than national schools) in which an efficient system of elementary education is provided’.
A return by school managers read at the meeting of 5 December 1922 states the numbers of necessitous children and grants paid in the years 1920, 1921, and 1922, it being noted that for 1922, out of 13246 children on the rolls, 3392 are necessitious, requiring a grant of £1125. This form of return was also used in subsequent years.
From 1924 on, the committee tended to meet only once a year, in the December to February period, to approve or modify the scheme for the forthcoming year. These meetings also considered correspondence and matters arising, and additional meetings were held as required. On 6 March 1929 a special meeting was held in response to a Local Government Department letter, to consider possible economies from contract purchase of commodities. The meeting also heard a letter from City Commissioner Monahan in which he states ‘I have reason to believe that meals are being given to a number of children whose parents cannot be regarded as necessitous’. At the next meeting on 23 January 1930, the grant of £1500 was allocated among 18 schools to 2927 children. The committee complained that this grant was inadequate, in that it allowed only 10 shillings and 3 pence per child for 200 days, or 123 days at 1d per child, with the difference falling on school managers. A summary of commodities required under the existing system was considered at a meeting of 19 June 1930, and it was agreed to seek tenders for contracts for selected commodities. The standard meal was to be bread, jam and cocoa, with milk and sugar. It being pointed out that children in some schools preferred cocoa to milk, while in others milk was preferred, the City Manager said ‘that necessitous children should not be given that privilege’. It was eventually decided that the contract system would prove too expensive.
In 1942, changes in schools hours led to the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation informing the committee that teachers could no longer prepare and distribute meals. In December 1944 a report by the Medical Officer of Health was read, noting the discrepency between the number of necessitous children and the number of meals actually served. Schools managers were asked to make a refund of any of their allocation unexpended. The report also noted deficiencies in and possible improvements to the scheme. Sandwiches on wholemeal bread were recommended.
In 1960, the grant was £7500, covering 4792 necessitous children. The average cost was 1s 8d per child, the fare being a bun and milk or cocoa. In 1966 school managers noted that their grant was still being supplemented from private funds, especially to provide hot food in winter, the grant only covering the basic fare. In 1968 the Corporation increased the overall grant from £9000 to 18000. This was queried, but allowed, by the Department of Social Welfare.
In the 1970s there was much discussion on the present and future working of the scheme, with the difficulty of determining which children were necessitous a recurring theme. New legislation to reflect ‘present day conditions’ was called for. The needs of special schools, for the disabled or disadvantaged, where all children required full meals, were also discussed.
In 1980, the grant was £30000, covering 3762 children at £7.97 per pupil. In the final minutes present, for 18 December 1984, the grant was £42000. Nonetheless, it was agreed that the present allocations were inadequate and that estimates should be increased by 100%.
The minutes provide a unique record of the origins and development of school meals provision in Cork, from the last years of British rule, right through the Free State and post World War II periods, up to European Economic Community entry and decimalisation, and the mid 1980s. Returns on the minutes list the names of city schools, the numbers of children on the rolls, and the numbers regarded as necessitous. They are of particular interest to social historians and those studying education, and they shed light on the history of Cork’s schools.. In a Cork City Council context, the minutes are related to those of the Public Health Committee (CP/CO/PH/M), the School Attendance Committee (CP/CO/SA/M), and reports of the school medical service contained in General Purposes Committee of the whole Council minutes (CP/CO/GP/M) and minutes of the Special Committee on the Medical Treatment of School Children (CP/CO/SP/M).
In April 1915, reports were read which suggested roughly 1300 children in Cork would be supplied with one meal a day, at a cost of one and a half pence each, and that breakfast or an early luncheon would be preferable as benefitting children more. Returns of numbers of necessitious children were queried by the committee and school patrons, and at the meeting of 5 July 1915 a standard of 10% of the number on the school rolls was adopted as a guide. It was also decided that meals should be supplied on at least 76 days of the year, in the months from November to February. It was noted that this would cost £650, meaning £300, in addition to the £350 given by the Corporation, would need to be raised. It was agreed to circulate an appeal for funds. The Corporation funding was based on a rate struck.
At the next meeting, on 19 July, a sub-committee report setting forth a scheme for the provision of school meals was adopted. This proposed that grants be made to managers of national schools, and that the managers would decide which children qualified as necessitous. At the meeting of 14 October 1915 a return by the Executive Sanitary Officer stated the names of schools, numbers on rolls, numbers ‘necessitous’, and amount recommended, amounting to £659 16s 6d, covering 1387 children in 22 schools. Such returns recur throughout the minutes.
Meetings recommending payments of amounts for each year initially took place in October or November. Other meetings generally examined and approved accounts, ordered payments, and acknowledged subscriptions received.
Local Government Board regulations issued after the amendment of the School Meals Act in 1917, ruled that schools not under the control of the Commissioners for National Education could not benefit from the scheme. This affected Cork’s Christian Brothers’ schools and was strongly contested by the Committee (eg, 7 January 1919). The committee organised its first flag day, and money raised appears to have been used to open a second account from which grants to Christian Brothers schools could be paid. In January 1925, a letter was read from the Minister for Local Government agreeing to the extension of the acts to include ‘schools (other than national schools) in which an efficient system of elementary education is provided’.
A return by school managers read at the meeting of 5 December 1922 states the numbers of necessitous children and grants paid in the years 1920, 1921, and 1922, it being noted that for 1922, out of 13246 children on the rolls, 3392 are necessitious, requiring a grant of £1125. This form of return was also used in subsequent years.
From 1924 on, the committee tended to meet only once a year, in the December to February period, to approve or modify the scheme for the forthcoming year. These meetings also considered correspondence and matters arising, and additional meetings were held as required. On 6 March 1929 a special meeting was held in response to a Local Government Department letter, to consider possible economies from contract purchase of commodities. The meeting also heard a letter from City Commissioner Monahan in which he states ‘I have reason to believe that meals are being given to a number of children whose parents cannot be regarded as necessitous’. At the next meeting on 23 January 1930, the grant of £1500 was allocated among 18 schools to 2927 children. The committee complained that this grant was inadequate, in that it allowed only 10 shillings and 3 pence per child for 200 days, or 123 days at 1d per child, with the difference falling on school managers. A summary of commodities required under the existing system was considered at a meeting of 19 June 1930, and it was agreed to seek tenders for contracts for selected commodities. The standard meal was to be bread, jam and cocoa, with milk and sugar. It being pointed out that children in some schools preferred cocoa to milk, while in others milk was preferred, the City Manager said ‘that necessitous children should not be given that privilege’. It was eventually decided that the contract system would prove too expensive.
In 1942, changes in schools hours led to the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation informing the committee that teachers could no longer prepare and distribute meals. In December 1944 a report by the Medical Officer of Health was read, noting the discrepency between the number of necessitous children and the number of meals actually served. Schools managers were asked to make a refund of any of their allocation unexpended. The report also noted deficiencies in and possible improvements to the scheme. Sandwiches on wholemeal bread were recommended.
In 1960, the grant was £7500, covering 4792 necessitous children. The average cost was 1s 8d per child, the fare being a bun and milk or cocoa. In 1966 school managers noted that their grant was still being supplemented from private funds, especially to provide hot food in winter, the grant only covering the basic fare. In 1968 the Corporation increased the overall grant from £9000 to 18000. This was queried, but allowed, by the Department of Social Welfare.
In the 1970s there was much discussion on the present and future working of the scheme, with the difficulty of determining which children were necessitous a recurring theme. New legislation to reflect ‘present day conditions’ was called for. The needs of special schools, for the disabled or disadvantaged, where all children required full meals, were also discussed.
In 1980, the grant was £30000, covering 3762 children at £7.97 per pupil. In the final minutes present, for 18 December 1984, the grant was £42000. Nonetheless, it was agreed that the present allocations were inadequate and that estimates should be increased by 100%.
The minutes provide a unique record of the origins and development of school meals provision in Cork, from the last years of British rule, right through the Free State and post World War II periods, up to European Economic Community entry and decimalisation, and the mid 1980s. Returns on the minutes list the names of city schools, the numbers of children on the rolls, and the numbers regarded as necessitous. They are of particular interest to social historians and those studying education, and they shed light on the history of Cork’s schools.. In a Cork City Council context, the minutes are related to those of the Public Health Committee (CP/CO/PH/M), the School Attendance Committee (CP/CO/SA/M), and reports of the school medical service contained in General Purposes Committee of the whole Council minutes (CP/CO/GP/M) and minutes of the Special Committee on the Medical Treatment of School Children (CP/CO/SP/M).
Umfang1 volume (167pp)
Physische BeschaffenheitHard-bound volume, broken spine
SpracheEnglish
PersonenschlagwortCork City Council, Cork Corporation
AccessOpen by appointment to those holding a current readers' ticket
ReproduktionsbestimmungenSubject to Rules Governing Reproduction of Records
LevelEinzelstück
RepositoryCork City and County Archives