Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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255. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated spend on books by schools participating in the school book rental scheme at primary and post-primary level. [35620/18]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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278. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the spend on the book rental scheme; the capital and current expenditure; and the number of schools participating in each of the years 2010 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form. [36000/18]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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279. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated number of children at primary and second level not benefitting from the book rental scheme. [36007/18]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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280. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools at primary and second level not participating in the book rental scheme. [36008/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 255 and 278 to 280, inclusive, together.

My Department supports the operation of book rental schemes through the funding provided under the School Books Grant Scheme. Under this scheme, my Department provides funding of €16.6m annually to primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme. School book rental schemes have an important role to play in reducing the cost of school books for parents.

The current arrangements for the school book grant relies on the local knowledge of the school in order to ensure a fair allocation of funds to those most in need. The system is fully compatible with local autonomy.

My Department does not hold information in relation to the expenditure on books by individual schools at primary and post-primary level or on the numbers of children at primary and post-primary who benefit from the book rental scheme. However the most recent figures available indicate that 96% of primary schools and 68% of post-primary schools operate a book rental scheme.

The attached document gives a breakdown of the following:

- Funding provided under the School Book Grant Scheme for primary and post-primary schools which includes capital expenditure for the years 2010 to date.

- Numbers of schools at primary and post-primary participating in the scheme where such information is held by my Department.

One of the actions as part of the Action Plan for Education is to strengthen the focus on reducing school costs for parents by increasing the financial support for book rental schemes, in order to reduce/eliminate school book costs for parents as resources permit.

Book Grant including capital expenditure - Primary & Post-primary

No. of Schools participating in Book Rental Scheme