Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I share the Minister's concerns about the substantial costs for households. It is an issue that arises at this time of the year. I welcome the fact that last October the Minister received a commitment from the book publishers that they would sign up to a code of practice in regard to revised editions. There have been complaints, some of which have been aired in the national media, that a new edition of the home economics book, Lifewise, has been published. The publishers say the book concerned was published six months prior to the adoption of the code of practice. Whether it was outside the time from when the code of practice was implemented, they should have abided by the spirit of the agreement that was made with the Minister and his Department. I hope the Minister will pursue this matter.

Another issue brought to my attention is the fact that a new edition of the English poetry book is published each year. I do not know if that is the case, but those complaints have been made to me and this is the proper forum to air these concerns.

See this speech in context