10 November 2026

SDLP Communities Spokesperson Mark H Durkan MLA SDLP Foyle MLA and Communities Spokesperson Mark H Durkan has criticised the latest increase in school meal costs, warning that working families are once again being left to shoulder the consequences of Executive dysfunction and a failure to deliver a Budget.

Mark H Durkan MLA said:

“This increase in school meal costs will come as yet another blow to working families and highlights in no uncertain terms, the failure of this Executive.

“It is utterly farcical that at a time when a Sinn Féin Finance Minister claims there is no more money for the Department of Education, resulting in another 30p increase per meal after a 20% cost hike last year, his party is also introducing a piece of legislation to deliver Holiday Hunger Payments costing £25-£30 million a year.

“The left hand doesn’t seem to know, or want to know, what the right hand is doing. Sinn Féin -DUP leadership refuse to work collaboratively, and at times appear to be actively working against one another, to the detriment of hard working families.

“DUP Education Minister Paul Givan, claims that it costs £5.28 to produce a single school meal here, compared to just £3 in England. The fact of the North’s rurality alone cannot account for these increased costs. We see it right across public services, from the costs to install street lights, fill potholes, to providing temporary accommodation. Why does it cost this Executive significantly more, almost double the costs, to deliver basic services than elsewhere in the UK? Serious questions must be asked around procurement practices and there needs to be better transparency on how money is being spent.

“One in five children living in poverty in the North don’t qualify for a free school meal. Those are the vulnerable cohort who are hit time and time again by Executive failure on tackling child poverty and food insecurity.

“Scotland has universal primary school meals. Wales is rolling out universal provision. And England is expanding access to all Universal Credit claimants. In Northern Ireland, the government has tightened thresholds. Fewer children are being supported and meal costs are rising every year.

“The Education Minister states there’s no budget left to cut, citing decisions of the Finance Minister. The Finance Minister will likely blame Tory austerity and the Treasury. But what we will not hear is accountability from this Executive. We will not hear how the parties that have held the purse strings for the past decade have made a hames of it or how they continue to use the classic tactic of distraction and division, to deflect from their continued dysfunction.

“The SDLP will continue to champion politics for the common good and ensure that the needs of ordinary people are put at the heart of government decision-making.”