Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives for their presentations. To start with the issue of schoolbooks, the INTO has already outlined and reiterated the flaws in the last scheme that was announced. I thought it was rather bizarre that a grant scheme was announced from which 80% of schools were excluded access. It not only penalised those who had taken the initiative and set up a scheme but sent out a message that if people were thinking of taking an initiative to set up a project next month or next year they should not bother because they would lose out in doing so. That was a damaging message. There was a partial rowing back on that later and the schools that have a scheme in place are getting a smaller amount. Will the Department officials advise whether an initiative will be taken in the next budget, if it is too late for this year, to address that gap and make sure that all schools have enough money to set up and sustain a proper scheme? That is essential.

One of the issues raised is the need for compulsory book rental schemes in all schools. All schools should have a scheme. As a decent society we should be able to make sure that every family can afford school uniforms, books and such items, and it is to cover such items that people pay tax. That burden should not fall to individual families. As a society we should be able to guarantee those as a basic minimum to all primary school children. However, the question is how do we get to that point. We know that schools are not in a position currently to be able to do that. Will the representatives of the INTO indicate how much it would cost to implement such a full scheme that would not only include books for some subjects or books for some school years but would give every child a full suite of books and replace them as necessary? Is that something the Department officials see us achieving? It should be.

Another issue that is raised regularly is e-books. Grants for paper books are becoming redundant in many respects. We should be moving towards the use of e-books, more so at second level, because the development of literacy and such skills require more interaction with paper books at primary level. We should be moving more towards the use of e-books, yet they can be more expensive than paper books because of VAT. I have raised this issue several times at the committee and we have been told it is an EU issue because of the VAT directive. Will the Department officials indicate whether it is an issue that the Minister for Education and Skills has raised with other Ministers for education at European meetings? Will the Government push at EU level to have that directive amended, if need be? It was written at a time when nobody anticipated that we would be seeking to give children e-books in schools. This needs to be revisited.

On the issue of energy costs, I welcome the presentation from Mr. Dolan. To be fair to the Department, much has been done in this respect in terms of new schools. Much has been done in recent years to incorporate best practice and build in better designs that are energy-efficient and that help schools to save money over time. The difficulty is that we still have many old school buildings and there is a question about how can we assist those schools. Guidance has been produced but, again, the key issue comes down to grant assistance. There have been small grants in the past for works such as thermal insulation, but a host of other works are needed at a national level. We also need to be consider this issue from a climate strategy perspective.