Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 57: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to consider having school text books available as PDFs in order to better facilitate the learning environment of children with disabilities, particularly blind children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24263/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department provides funding (€1.28m in 2011) to the National Braille Production Centre (NBPC), a national service which provides blind/visually impaired pupils at first and second level with textbooks in alternative formats including braille and audio format. It is an essential service to children who are blind or visually impaired and without it many such children would not be able to access mainstream education or be able to undertake the Junior and Senior Cycle examinations. I understand that the process of translating a book into braille can be a time consuming process. In my recent discussions with the educational publishers, I raised the issue of co-operation with the NBPC in this regard and stressed the importance of providing the relevant PDF files in a timely manner so that no blind or visually impaired children experience undue delays in having access to their coursebooks.