Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. He will be aware that the Department of Education's statement of strategy sets out the vision and mission of the Department for an educational system where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured in reaching their full potential. It sets as a goal to ensure equity of opportunity in education and that all pupils are supported to fulfil their potential. Since June 2020, and over the past three budgets, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, has secured funding to support measures aimed at achieving that goal. As part of budget 2023, the Minister, Deputy Foley, announced more than €50 million to provide free books to primary school pupils within the free education scheme from September 2023. This significant investment further reflects the Government's commitment to equality, an inclusive school system, and to improving learning outcomes for every pupil. The Government recognises that the cost of preparing children for school each September can be a cause of financial difficulty and worry for many Irish families. This free school books scheme will eliminate the cost to these families for all school books, work books, and copy books at primary school. It delivers on the programme for Government commitment to extend the free school book pilot which ran in more than 100 DEIS primary schools over the past three years. The free primary school books scheme will benefit up to 558,000 pupils in approximately 3,230 recognised primary schools, including pupils in more than 130 special schools.

On 22 March, the Minister announced the details of the scheme and a comprehensive guidance to support schools in the implementation of the scheme was published and has issued to all primary and special schools. The implementation of the scheme will build on the existing school book rental scheme which is available in 96% of recognised primary schools and has been in place for many years. Schools are familiar with buying books directly from school book suppliers as part of the operation of the existing school book rental schemes and schools will continue to have autonomy to chose books that meet curricular requirements. I am aware the Department engaged with the various stakeholders as part of the development of the scheme. This included the primary education management bodies and unions, the National Parents Council, the Irish Educational Publishers' Association, Bookselling Ireland, Retail Ireland - IBEC, the Small Firms Association, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and Barnardos. The Department also engaged with a number of schools which have experience of running book rental schemes, including some of the schools participating in the DEIS pilot free-book scheme to learn of their first-hand experience of operating a book rental scheme. This scheme is supported by Government funding of more than €53 million which has been issued to all primary and special schools to purchase all school books, work books, and copy books for their pupils in time for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

The funding was paid at a rate of €96 per pupil in line with the validated enrolment figures for September 2022. The free books scheme will seek to ensure value for money is achieved and that schools will be supported to implement the scheme in a way that has the best learning outcomes for pupils. In recognition of the work required in schools associated with implementing the scheme, the Department has also put in place a grant payment for schools for administrative support. This grant, which is based on enrolment, can be used to employ an individual to work for a specified number of days from April through to August 2023, to carry out administrative work on this scheme. This additional grant will be paid to schools shortly. 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 costs and efficiency of the scheme for future years.

I am acutely aware of the various costs placed upon families on the return of their children to school each September and this important new permanent measure will significantly reduce the back-to-school financial burden for many families.