Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I welcome the Minister of State. I raise the issue because we are at the start of a school year. I raised the issue last year as well and said I was absolutely delighted that costs for school books in primary school have been taken away from parents. It should be the same across the entire school system. However, my major concern is that an industry developed around school books and the tab for that industry is now being picked up by the State. There is a cost element of school books but there is also a pollution element. We know that hundreds of thousands of books are dumped at the end of the school year. Should a new book be needed at the end of every year? Should siblings not be able to pass down their books? If we are going to take the step of providing free books, we need to put in place a system in which that is not abused. I know, for instance, that Eason's profits went down significantly with this new approach to school books in which the State picks up the tab because of the amount of money paid by parents or the State for these books. I ask that a system be put in place across all schools that they do not need new books on the curriculum unless there is a major change in the curriculum, which happens very rarely, to be honest, to prevent this kind of abuse of a system. I will not go on about it. The Minister of State has the general gist. I could provide loads of facts and statistics on the issue but, intuitively, we all know what the problem is. The whole system last year was not well thought through. It is the same thing with school transport. Just providing something for free does not address the underlying issue that we have a system in which each school gets to decide what school books are put on the curriculum. The majority of schools - I think it is something like 96% of them - offer a rental scheme in the school but that becomes defunct if you provide free books. Where is the environmental aspect? If people feel they can rent a book from a school or can get a free book, they will probably get the free book and then you are still left with the environmental cost of that.

In general, the principle is good but we need the policy to back it up. Unfortunately, the way in which our school system has developed is circular and involves individual schools making decisions. It is our job as policymakers to put a more generalised system in place to make sure every school is doing the same thing when it comes to something as fundamental as the environment.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue. It is universally agreed that it is a good idea to try to reduce the cost for parents of their children attending school and to treat all families, or nearly all families, equally. Many in my constituency are not included in the scheme, but we are talking here about all of the rest of them. The Senator raised important issues. I do not think there are abuses, to be honest. It is about bedding in a brand-new policy and making sure it works. The Department has set guidance in relation to the free primary school book scheme which requests that schools make every effort to reduce wastage. The school books remain the property of the school and are on loan to the pupils for the duration of the year. They can consist of both new and second-hand school books. Pupils are supposed to retain the school books for one year and then return them to school for reuse in the following year. The Senator is right - you do not need to have a new school book every year. Developments in the curriculum can be added in terms of pages. We have all of the technology to be able to do that. It should not be new school books every year. She was correct to highlight that.

The Department stated that it expects schools to adopt a cost-conscious approach to the selection of school books, work books, copy books and related classroom resources. It recommends that a cover be placed on the books to protect them. Schools are requested to remind pupils' parents and guardians of school book care and maintenance, precisely so that the school books can be reused the following year. The free primary school books scheme is supported by Government funding of more than €50 million, which was issued earlier this year to all primary and special schools to purchase all school books, work books and copy books for their pupils in time to start the current school year. The scheme will seek to ensure that 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. At the same time, it is important to emphasise that the Department has stated that schools continue to have the autonomy to choose school books and work books that meet curricular requirements and in the case of special schools and special classes meet the learning needs of pupils.

What the Senator highlighted is entirely possible. It is possible for an individual school to take a different approach and add costs or wastage. It is important to highlight the best practice that can be adopted by schools in the way the Senator did and for that to happen universally. This is the first year. It is really about what happens next year and how they manage the great resource provided in the best interests of the environment, learning opportunities and maintaining a reasonable cost for the State for the different needs. The Senator raised the issue in a timely way that gives schools the opportunity to plan.

Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State. Her response highlighted the issue, which is that a system was put in place without a policy backing up what would happen for these individual schools. An overall system is needed. There is no skin off the nose of an individual school bringing on board a new school book but it is a cost for the State and for the environment. It is the job of the Government and the Department of Education, not an individual school, to ensure the system is in place. A directive is needed, rather than just asking a school to take on board the environment.There needs to be a directive that there is no change in the school books unless there is a major change in the curriculum, that schools must either recycle or send old books for reuse in Ireland or in other parts of the world, and that they must all make an annual return on the matter of how much they are spending, or the State is spending, on the provision of school books. That greater transparency, in the absence of a generalised policy, might make schools step up to the mark.

The Minister of State is correct. This is a timely discussion we are having. Let us look at it for next year but let us also factor the environment into every policy decision of the Department of Education. My issues yesterday regarding solar panels demonstrate that the Department of Education is simply not taking a forward-looking approach to how we address nature, pollution and climate.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The free primary school book scheme benefits up to 558,000 pupils in approximately 3,200 recognised primary schools, including pupils in 130 special schools. I cannot even imagine the number of books and copybooks that is but it is a very considerable amount of paper and a considerable opportunity for wastage. Certainly in my own constituency of Dún Laoghaire, schools are very assiduous at highlighting green issues, recycling and adopting a whole-school approach to that. If I were a school principal I would be adopting an approach on how we manage that collectively as a school and how we set our own targets for recycling and the reuse of books over time.

Senator O'Reilly's idea on the transparency regarding the return on the usage of the books is a very good one. Why should we not have a measure of that transparency? It is being set against the natural tension that exists in the way our school system is structured, which leaves a lot of autonomy to the individual schools under the boards of management. That remains but there is no reason there could not be a voluntary return of some kind, and I will certainly bring that idea back to the Minister. It is really important and timely for the Senator to have raised it.