Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Education, I believe it is crucially important that children and young people are actively supported to access education in its fullest forms. This Government recognises that the cost of preparing children for school each September can be a cause of financial difficulty and worry for many Irish families.

As part of Budget 2023, I announced a major investment of over €50 million to provide free schoolbooks in recognised primary schools and special schools. This was a landmark moment in Irish education and one that furthers our goal to provide free education for all and ensure that every child can benefit from free education.

The Free Primary Schoolbook Scheme has resulted in over 561,000 pupils in over 3,230 recognised primary schools, including over 130 special schools benefitting from free schoolbooks, workbooks and classroom resources from September 2023.

To further the delivery of our important government commitment funding is allocated under Budget 2024 to extend the free schoolbooks scheme to all students in junior cycle years in public post primary schools from the 2024/25 school year. The total funding available for this extension of the scheme is €67 million. Students in over 670 post-primary schools across all counties will benefit from this new measure.

The grant for this scheme will be paid based on the previous year’s validated enrolment figures which, for the 2024/25 school year, will be the enrolment figures at 30th September 2023.

The most recent data held by my Department on junior cycle enrolments show that 208,736 students were enrolled in junior cycle years in the 2022/23 school year.

An attachment is provided for the Deputy containing the breakdown by county of:

• Primary pupils benefiting from Free School Books Scheme in the current 2023/24 school year
• Junior cycle post primary students, based on the 2022/23 validated enrolment figures, expected to benefit from the Free School Books Scheme for junior cycle years for the 2024/25 school year.

As Minister for Education, I am acutely aware of the various costs faced by families upon the return of their children to school each September and am confident that this new provision will further and significantly reduce the back to school financial burden for many families.