Vol. 424 No. 2
2 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education if he will give details of his meeting with school book publishers on 17 August 1992; the recommendations which were agreed at the meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
57 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Education the steps, if any, he has taken in relation to his announcement of 17 August 1992, that book publishers would offer discounts to schools who join forces and buy directly from the publishers; and the number of schools which have participated in this scheme for the school year 1992/93.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 57 together.
My meeting with the publishers of school text books on 17 August 1992 followed on an earlier meeting of 13 August between officials of my Department and representatives of the publishers. At these meetings a range of issues in regard to school text books was discussed including cost, supply and quality of the books. Following on those meetings I issued a statement specifying a number of initiatives aimed at reducing the cost to parents of school text books. One of the 11 initiatives in this action programme was a discount of up to 20 per cent which the publishers had offered in both meetings for bulk purchasing of text books by schools.
I am aware that many schools benefit from varying levels of discount through bulk purchase from publishers or retailers, but I do not have any information in relation to the number of schools which may have participated in such arrangements in the current school year.
Does the Minister not remember a newspaper headline in the Irish Independent on 18 August which said “New controls on Cost of Schoolbooks” followed within days by another newspaper article which said “Schoolbooks Discount No Deal”?
Displays of this kind or an attempt to quote are quite out of order.
I put it to the Minister that the people who were at the meeting — and I have spoken to them — said that it was merely a throwaway remark by the Minister at the end of the meeting and that they did not agree to it. I put it to the Minister that he must realise that dealing with education is not like dealing with some of the Minister's previous portfolios. It is dealing with people and with children. The Minister should stop flying kites and balloons during the summer season because many people have been left in the lurch as a result.
I am a great believer in working during the summer season. I think those headlines are excellent. I do not dispute them at all. The official note taken by senior civil servants says that 20 per cent discount will be allowed to schools if large orders are received, that is, from three to four schools, with prompt payment. That note was taken officially on 13 August at a meeting which I did not attend between the secretary of my Department, senior officials and the publishers. At a meeting four days later which I did attend, also attended by the secretary of the Department and senior officials this was confirmed again with the rider that the order must be big enough.
The final point I want to make is that I launched an 11-point programme to do with renting schoolbooks, standardising schoolbooks and also pointing out that it was a complex problem and not just a question of the discount I was suggesting. I launched an 11-point programme which is an integrated programme to try to get down the cost of schoolbooks which are too high. We simply have to get them down and I think the Deputy would agree with that.
Does the Minister realise that as a result of this public relations exercise we have had letters and telephone calls from parents who took the announcement at face value? They believed that there would be a 20 per cent cut and were driven into the arms of moneylenders so that they could buy the books in September. Does the Minister not agree that what we need is standardised texts for a ten year period so that people will know where they stand? What is needed is the putting in place of a proper loans scheme, giving the schools seed capital to do this.
I have no evidence at all that hardship was incurred by virtue of this announcement. It was a genuine attempt to put pressure on the book world to get down the cost of books. I make no apology for that and I reject any notion that it was a public relations exercise. If the Deputy would read the press release he will see that this was one of 11 items designed to get down the costs. One of the 11 items is a proposal to have consultants look at the possible standardisation of textbooks and that will proceed shortly.
