Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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All Members will be familiar with the annual debate in May or June on the cost of school books and no doubt the coming summer it will be no different. This issue has been covered on the airwaves and in the press year after year, but there has been no resolution. Last June I received a telephone call from a parent who argued that we had the most expensive school books in Europe. I am not sure whether that is true and cannot make a judgment, as it is difficult to establish the truth.

There have been many Ministers for Education during the years, but none of them has ever dealt with this issue. However, yesterday, for the first time since the foundation of the State, the Minister for Education and Skills dealt with the fact that this was one of the few countries in Europe that did not have a school book rental scheme. He and the Department indicated that we would have the foundations for a universal school book rental scheme.

The cost of school books is a problem that does not affect people with plenty of money, but it presents a difficulty for families who do not have large incomes and parents on low or modest pay. I congratulate the Department, the Minister and the Minister of State on the introduction of this initiative yesterday. I congratulate them also on the fact that - this has gone practically unnoticed - they have managed to ringfence a sum of €15 million this year for the scheme.

With regard to the perception, true or otherwise, that we have the most expensive books, this is difficult to establish. I engaged in an exercise with the publishers and printers to establish the figures. However, it seems we have what one would call a cartel because the main publishers and printers are not limited by guarantee. Therefore, we have no access to the amount of money they make annually. The opposite is the case in our neighbouring jurisdiction and on mainland Europe. We are in a different position and companies have made significant moneys from the school book business. However, the Department has now made a start on introducing a proper universal book rental system.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss school book rental schemes. As the Deputy mentioned, yesterday the Minister launched the guidelines for developing textbook rental schemes in schools. The guidelines provide practical advice for 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 such book rental programmes.

The publication of the guidelines follows a survey of schools by the Department's inspectorate last year. It had a 99% response rate at primary level and showed that 76% of primary schools operated a book rental scheme. At second level, the response rate was lower, at 44%. Of the 44% which responded, 88% of those in the VEC sector and 73% of those in the community and comprehensive sector operated a book rental scheme. These results show that we have a good foundation on which to build a scheme across the country. I hope schools not yet operating book rental schemes will be encouraged to use the guidelines introduced yesterday. If they do, this will result in substantial savings for parents. Schools which already have rental schemes can save parents up to 80% of the cost of buying new books.

A special guide for parents is also being published to inform them how the schemes operate and how they can help schools to establish and run them. The Minister has been very clear in his ongoing support for book rental schemes. All of us who are parents know how expensive textbooks can be and what a burden the cost places on already hard-pressed families at the start of every school year.

A key priority for the Minister is to continue to take steps to tackle the costs associated with school attendance. The publication of the guidelines builds on other steps taken in an attempt to reduce the burden on families such as protecting the budget for school book grants at €15 million in the past two years, despite economic pressures. The Minister has consulted widely on the guidelines, including working closely with the National Parents Council at primary and post-primary level, the Society of St. Vincent De Paul and Barnardos, to discuss ways of reducing costs for parents. These consultations resulted in a commitment from the Irish Educational Publishers Association to limit the publication of new editions and maintain editions of books in print unchanged for at least six years. The publishers also gave assurances that they would sell books for rental schemes to schools at substantial discounts.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I take the opportunity to express my admiration for the Minister of State's impressive book.

Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I am encouraged by the remarks made by the Minister of State on the progress being made in this area. I am in favour of the reforms being made in the education sector, particularly in this area. While the change will not affect everyone, it will benefit those on low incomes, the kind of people who elected me to this House. It is important that there is fairness and equality, particularly at primary level, and no child should be denied access to school books.

The Minister of State mentioned the Irish Educational Publishers Association. I read its statement on this issue. We have not heard much from it in the past, although it has been in existence for some time. If it had not been hauled in by the Department, it would have been quite content to continue making money from the sale of school books and keeping the status quo. Its attitude bears out the point made by the parent who telephoned me last June to say the sale of school books was a lucrative business.

It may be a lucrative business for the publishers and printers, but it is not lucrative for working-class families who cannot afford to cope with the burden of buying additional new books each year. It is good that we are making progress in that regard. Perhaps the day will come when we will have access to the sort of money that these book publishers have made during the years and figures for the volume of books printed outside the jurisdiction for Irish schools.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy has pointed out, the school book publishers have signed up to a code of practice, in effect. They have agreed to limit substantially the number of reprints, by comparison with what happened in the past. The Minister is adamant that their performance under the voluntary code of practice will be closely monitored. I argue that there will be further consequences, in terms of the relationship between the Department and the publishers, if it transpires that the code of practice is not being honoured. It is more than coincidental that I am delivering this response with the assistance of an iPad.

Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I hope the Minister of State paid for it himself.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I did. There is a strange anomaly in this regard. Many schools are moving onto the digital platform. First year students at a number of schools in my area of County Galway do not have heavy satchels or bags because they have been equipped with tablets. One pays 0% VAT when one buys a school book in a local bookstore, which is more than appropriate. That is the way it should be. However, one has to pay 23% VAT when one buys an electronic copy of the same book to download it onto one of these devices. Ultimately, we should encourage young people to move onto a completely digital platform. This is an anomaly in EU taxation law. The European Union dictates that the higher tax or VAT rate that applies in each jurisdiction must be imposed on digitally-traded services. I think the application of this country's 23% VAT rate to school books on the digital platform is an unintended anomaly of that regulation. I hope to take up that matter with my colleagues in the European Parliament in Brussels to see whether it can be resolved.