Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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127. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the new book rental scheme is not available to all schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2610/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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My question is to ask specifically why the new schoolbook rental scheme is not available to all schools. I ask the Minister to highlight in particular why schools that set up their book rental schemes in the past year or two, on the advice of the Department and with the encouragement of the Minister, in many instances going into debt in the process, are being excluded.

The Minister is now excluding them from the scheme and only awarding funding to those schools which have not yet taken that initiative. It is very unfair, as they deserve to be included in the scheme.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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First, let me clarify that the Department will continue to provide a book grant as usual for all primary schools. This grant can be utilised for the purpose of updating or expanding a school's existing book rental scheme. I commend all schools that have used the grant to help to build book rental schemes during the years. Their efforts mean that the high cost of school books is being significantly reduced for parents. At my request, the National Parents Council surveyed its members for their views on 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 book rental schemes help with the cost of educating a child. Clearly, ensuring book rental schemes are available to all parents must, therefore, be our aim, an aim I am sure the Deputy would share.

I understand it feels unfair to those schools which have invested time and money to establish such schemes that they now cannot benefit from the additional funding secured as part of the budget. Of course, it is unfair, but, equally, maintaining the status quo was deeply unfair to many parents. Those parents who had no access whatsoever to book rental schemes needed more support for a variety of reasons. With the limited funding available, targeting this funding to make sure every parent in Ireland has access to a book rental scheme at some level was the greatest good that could be achieved. The sum available, €15 million over three years, is relatively small, which is why I made my decision. I am aware of the many representations Deputies on both sides of the House have received on this matter, but I was listening to what parents were saying to me about the cost of sending children to school, which is why I responded in this way.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has said it feels unfair; in fact, he agrees that it is unfair. When he presented this initiative as part of last year's budget, the implication was that it would benefit all schools. That meant that schools all over the country had the expectation they would be included in the scheme, but 76% then found out that they would be excluded and get nothing. It is easy understand why they felt that was unfair. Most grant schemes are based on need, but the Minister is not trying to assess the needs of individual schools. There is a big difference between those schools with long-established book rental schemes covering all subjects and years and those schools which may have only set up their schemes in the last year or two, some of which got into debt in doing so. The Minister is now leaving such schools with that debt and excluding them from this new seed capital scheme. In essence, he is punishing them for having taken the initiative in setting up a book rental scheme.

I remember a banner displayed at a recent Labour Party conference which made reference to cutting the costs to parents of sending their children to school. Little did parents know that 76% of schools would be excluded from the new book rental scheme. It is ironic that the Minister makes the claim that he is cutting costs for parents, while at the same time the Government has cut the back to school allowance by 50%, as well as the minor works grant, and stopped the summer works scheme for two years. These cuts have meant that the very parents to which the Minister refers have had to dig deeper into an ever decreasing pocket to try to come up with the money that the Government has taken from them.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I understand the point of view the Deputy has articulated. I do not disagree with the perception of unfairness for some schools which had the wherewithal, the leadership, the passion or the commitment of parents who had the resources to dig deep into their own pockets to provide for a book rental scheme. My response was to do something every Deputy who had been in the education portfolio in opposition in recent years had done, namely, to listen to the voices of parents who had complained about two things in the context of the cost of sending young people to school - the cost of books and uniforms. I will leave the issue of uniforms to one side for now because we are dealing with the issue of books today.

I wanted every child in every school to have access to a book rental scheme because that was what parents wanted and, in many cases, needed. I had the choice of spreading a very small amount of money - €5 million a year - over three years to try to close the gap for more than 25% of the schools in question - based on the Deputy's figures, one could call it 20% - to make sure every parent could send his or her child to school and be faced with a bill of €40 to access a book rental scheme, as distinct from having to buy books. It was a difficult choice, but I made it in the interests of fairness for parents and pupils in these schools. Upfront in a way it was necessary to ignore some schools – they were not all well resourced schools or parents, but they had developed schemes owing to leadership from the principal and board of management. If we have extra resources, we will go back to the more recently established book rental schemes. Three years ago and for all of the time the Deputy’s predecessors were Ministers for education, we had no information on what schools, if any, had a book rental scheme. We now know what we are dealing with and we are trying to have a level playing pitch.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has a very reductionist view of finding information. He asked parents and schools to tick a box as to whether they had a school book rental scheme. Anyone who ticked the box, regardless of whether it was only a seed book rental scheme or long established, is now excluded. The Minister is not taking need into account. He and his party constantly peddle the line that they are trying to address school book and uniform costs.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Yes.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is confining assistance with school book costs to approximately 20% of schools. He is not working with those who need such schemes, rather he is excluding them. He has sent a school uniform survey to schools. No money is involved, yet he has said that is his way to address the issue of costs.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It is a start.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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If the Minister was serious about addressing the issue of school costs, he would not have cut the back to education allowance by half, taken a minimum of €5,000 annually from every school in the country through the minor works grant scheme, leaving parents to come up with the money, and not taken away the summer works scheme for fixing leaky roofs. Instead, schools have to ask parents for the money, the parents to whom the Minister sent a survey as his best effort at saving them money. In the past three years he has been the single biggest source of increasing the cost of sending children to school for families.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I could respond to the political rhetoric in the Deputy’s most recent supplementary question, but I will not do so. I was trying to close a gap in 3,200 primary schools and 700 odd post-primary schools but particularly in primary schools to ensure there would be a book rental scheme because parents had said to me that they wanted the cost of school books reduced. I had to work within the limited resources I had received. The book grant still goes to every school. Every school that has a book rental scheme will get a part of the book grant of €7 million. Is it enough? No, it is not. Would I like to give more? Of course, I would like to give more, but I do not have to remind the Deputy of the state in which the country was left by his party before it was hunted out of office.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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What about the promises the Minister made?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I do not have to remind the Deputy what I have been trying to do with limited resources-----

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister does not remember very much. He did not even implement his own promises.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister should be allowed to conclude.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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What I have tried to do with limited resources is introduce a degree of fairness in an unfair system-----

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister accepts that the system is unfair.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Yes, I know: it is an unfair system. This is an unfair country.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The scheme is unfair.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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We are not even three years in government trying to fix the damage the Deputy’s party did over 40 years.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister could start by implementing his own programme and commitments.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Okay.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister should be allowed to conclude.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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This scheme will result in every school having a book rental scheme. I hope it will improve and that book rental schemes across the spectrum will be of equal quality.