Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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632. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of providing free school books at both primary and post-primary school level for a full year; if her Department has considered this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36093/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The information sought is not readily available to my Department, however one estimate from publishers' sources suggests that the Irish school book market is worth approximately €60 million per annum.

There is a School Books Grant Scheme in place that provides assistance for books for students in all recognised primary and post-primary schools within the Free Education Scheme. Under this scheme, my Department provides funding of €15 million annually to all these schools.

In addition, Budget 2014 provided funding of €5 million per annum for three years to support the establishment of book rental schemes in primary schools that did not operate such schemes. Under this additional funding, DEIS schools receive €150 per child and non-DEIS schools receive €100 per child in seed capital to establish book rental schemes. The schools which qualified for funding under this scheme received 70% of their funding in 2014 and received the remaining 30% in May 2015.

Primary schools that were operating book rental schemes prior to 2014 will also benefit from this funding. These schools will receive €18 per pupil in mainstream schools and €20 per pupil in DEIS schools over two year period or €7 or €8 per pupil in 2015 and €11 or €12 in 2016. These arrangements are set out in Circular 0030/2015.

The current arrangements represent a significant annual investment by my Department and there are no plans to expand them further.