Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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662. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will report on the proposed free book pilot scheme due to commence in September 2020 as announced in budget 2020 and referenced in the programme for Government; and the 50 schools that will be availing of this free book scheme in September 2020 in tabular form. [15848/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides a book grant to all recognised primary and post primary schools within the Free Education Scheme in order to provide assistance for books including Book Rental Schemes. Under this scheme, the Department provided funding of €16.9 million in 2019 to all of these schools.

Additional funding of €1million provided under Budget 2020 was allocated to 102 Primary DEIS schools for a new pilot programme for the 2020/21 school year.The aim of this pilot is to provide free school books for students in the schools involved, and to support these schools in eliminating the cost of school books for parents. It will run for the period of one year and its effectiveness and impact will be monitored and evaluated before any decision is made as regards its possible extension or continuation. Under Circular 46/2013, DEIS schools receive a book grant of €21 per student.  This pilot will provide an additional €64 per student to increase the overall book grant rate to €85 per student enrolled in the school.  This additional funding issued to schools in May 2020.

A list of the 102 participating schools is published on the Department Of Education and Skills website and can be found at this link .