Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Question 260: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to introduce the use of ebooks and digital facilities to ease the burden on parents buying new editions of books; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32281/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Encouraging the deployment of high-quality curriculum-relevant digital resources is a clear priority for the ICT in Schools programme. This programme currently delivers a wide range of digital content through the Scoilnet.ie portal, promotes the development of teacher skills in content development and sharing through the national ICT CPD programme, and supports school leaders in developing "elearning plans" for the integration of ICT in teaching and learning in local practice.

In this context, I am fully aware of developments in the digital textbook publishing industry and I believe that the digital format has the potential to add significant value to teaching and learning for the future. In the case of textbooks specifically however, it must be recognised that it is publishers rather than my Department which decide how their intellectual property is to be disseminated. I appreciate that this market is in a particularly rapid phase of evolution at the moment, with a range of digital file formats, content licensing models and portable device platforms in active competition.

In these circumstances, I do not believe it would be in the best interest of schools for my Department to prescribe a single national model for the integration of ebooks at this moment in time. I believe it is important for schools, in conjunction with parents, to retain local autonomy in deciding whether to recommend their pupils purchase ebooks and how best to manage their integration into classroom practice over the medium and long terms. I know that a number of schools have already begun to trial the use of different kinds of ebooks on a local basis. I am pleased to see schools taking such steps, and I would remind them that they may choose to allocate the existing book grant provided by my Department towards purchase of electronic books if they so wish.