Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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58. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the process her Department engaged in to determine the level of the schoolbook grant for 2023. [22508/23]

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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At the end of March, the Minister announced the primary and special schools schoolbooks grant. Can she give us details on the processes that her Department engaged in to determine the decided-upon level of the schoolbook grant for 2023 at a rate per capita of €96?

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I believe it is crucial that all children and young people are actively supported to access education in its fullest forms and I know that I am supported by the Government in this belief. Since June 2020, and over the past three budgets, I have secured funding to support measures aimed at achieving that goal. One of the most important policies in this regard has been the establishment of Ireland’s first free primary schoolbook scheme, which has been fully funded to provide free schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks in primary schools and special schools. In excess of 558,000 pupils enrolled in approximately 3,230 primary schools, including more than 130 special schools, will benefit from this measure. This is a landmark moment in Irish education and one which furthers our goal to provide education for all and ensure that every child can benefit from free education.

I know that getting young people back to school in September can be a struggle. The free schoolbooks scheme will eliminate the cost to families for schoolbooks at primary school, including workbooks and copybooks. In excess of €53 million has been issued to schools around the country and extensive guidance has issued to schools on the operation of the scheme. As the Deputy said, schools have received €96 per pupil, which is based on pupil enrolment figures. The cost of €96 per pupil was arrived at following extensive analysis of a range of data sources. This included analysis of over three years of data from schools involved in the pilot free books scheme, direct engagement with a sample of different types and sizes of schools and detailed analysis by the Department of a range of school book lists, as well as engagement with other previous external independent surveys. The implementation of the measure builds on the experience of schoolbook rental schemes currently in place for a number of years in some 96% of primary schools, and on the learning from the free schoolbooks pilot provided for the past three school years in more than 100 DEIS primary schools.

Primary schools and special schools will continue to have the autonomy to choose books that meet their curricular requirements. The scheme will seek to ensure that value for money is achieved and that primary schools and special schools will be supported to implement the scheme in a way that best meets the learning outcomes for pupils.

The Department engaged with all relevant stakeholders as to how the scheme will operate, including primary school management bodies, unions, the National Parents Council Primary, representatives of booksellers, schoolbook publishers, IBEC, Retail Ireland, the Small Firms Association, Barnardos and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. It also engaged with a number of schools directly, including some of the primary schools participating in the pilot DEIS free book scheme.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister had two minutes to answer, but she only spent about 15 seconds addressing the question, which was about the process. What was the basis of assessment, what benchmarking was done, what market research was carried out and what costings were done? I hear what the Minister said regarding the three-year pilot and a range of data, but what I am looking for is the actual range of data. If the Minister is expecting €96 to cover schoolbooks, workbooks, copybooks, pencils, pens, erasers, sharpeners, colouring pencils, white board markers and, if there is anything left over, dictionaries, mathematical sets and calculators, then, as one senior staff member in a school put it, we would truly love to know where the she is shopping. Does the Minister really expect to get all of that for €96? Where there is a shortfall, I ask the Minister to detail how it is to be made up.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I was very clear in giving the Deputy the context and the reasons behind this decision. I also outlined the process that was employed. Whether she accepts it or not, the process was borne of experience. As I said, we had three years of data, which is considerable, from the 100 primary schools that ran the pilot free schoolbook scheme. That was a considerable source of data. The process involved direct engagement with a sample of school types and sizes and detailed analysis of schoolbook lists by the Department. We also looked at the book rental scheme. This was a source of considerable expertise within our schools as 96% of schools avail of this scheme and manage it at a particular cost. All of that was included in the process. We also engaged with primary school management bodies, the National Parents Council Primary, the INTO, booksellers, book publishers and so on.

To be very clear, the money covers textbooks, workbooks and copybooks. If there is a shortfall in schools, and this has been outlined to them, they have every opportunity to convey this to the Department and we will look at it on a case-by-case basis. We are confident of the figures and that confidence is based on the research that was available to the Department.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister spoke about the three-year pilot programme and that information on same is available on the Department's website. That information makes clear reference to classroom resources, which goes beyond schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks. It specifically mentions that the money is not for swimming lessons, for example.

Of the range of data compiled and correlated over the three years, what was done to take into account the rapidly rising costs associated with school utilities? As I stated earlier, ring binders have increased in price by 120% in the past two years. Did the Department take that into account? Did it take any future growth in expenditure into account? In terms of the €96 and possible shortfalls, the Minister said schools can go back to the Department but I have seen correspondence between the Department and a school, and the advice was that the school should seek support from St. Vincent de Paul or the Red Cross.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Again, I want to be very clear that the figure of €96 was arrived at as a consequence of the considerable experience, not just from the pilot free book scheme but also the book rental scheme. There was also engagement in terms of looking at the most recent and up-to-date book lists that are distributed to schools. If one looks at the guidance that went out to schools, one will see that it specifically references textbooks, workbooks and copybooks. That is exactly what the book grant covers and that has been clear from day one.

Deputy Clarke asked about what we will do going forward. A full evaluation of the first year of implementation of the scheme will be undertaken in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in order to inform the guidance, implementation, cost efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme for future years. The sum of €96 was chosen as a consequence of how a pilot scheme was run for three years. It is quite significant to have a scheme, under the direction of the Department, run for three years. There was incredible learning from that as well as from the 96% of schools that participated in the book rental scheme.