Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Hannigan for raising this issue and I welcome the opportunity to clarify the position. The Minister, Deputy Quinn, and I are very conscious that the cost of textbooks is a considerable burden on families. We believe that participation in book rental schemes offers the best opportunity to reduce that burden. Schools which already have rental schemes can save parents up to 80% of the cost of buying new books. Since his appointment, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, has attempted to take steps to increase participation across the country in book rental schemes.

In January 2013, the Minister launched the Guidelines for Developing Textbook Rental Schemes in Schools. These guidelines provide practical advice to primary and post-primary schools on how rental schemes can be established and operated. The aim of the guidelines is to help as many schools as possible to start book rental programmes. The publication of the guidelines followed a survey of schools by the Department in 2011. This had a 99% response rate at primary level, and showed that 76% of primary schools already operate a book rental scheme. These results show that we have a good foundation to build on across the country, especially at primary level. We can achieve a position where every primary school has a book rental scheme in operation in the 2014-2015 school year.

Budget 2014, as Deputy Hannigan indicated, provided additional funding which will involve an investment of €15 million to support the establishment of book rental schemes in primary schools that do not currently operate them. The Department will provide €5 million in seed capital per annum over a three-year period to such schools. The Department will continue to provide a book grant as usual to all primary schools. This grant can be utilised for the purposes of updating or expanding a school's existing book rental scheme. I commend the schools that have used the book grant to help build up book rental schemes over the years. Their efforts mean the high costs of books is being significantly reduced for parents.

At the Minister, Deputy Quinn's request the National Parents' Council surveyed the views of its members about currently operating book rental schemes. Parents have reported that where book rental schemes operate, they are open to all parents in 95% of cases and that the cost per child is under €40 per year in a considerable majority of schools. Perhaps most tellingly the survey has found that 93% of parents believe that book rental schemes help with the costs of educating a child. Ensuring that book rental schemes are available not just to some parents but to all parents must therefore clearly be our aim. I understand that it feels unfair to those schools that have invested time, energy and money to establish such schemes, that they now cannot benefit from the additional funding which was secured as part of the budget. It is unfair, but equally, the status quo was deeply unfair on many parents.

See this speech in context