Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 December 2013
71. Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Minister for Education and Skills the terms of the proposed book rental scheme; if he will give consideration to the concerns of a school which has already taken the initiative in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53494/13]
View answer76. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the book rental grant scheme. [53619/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 71 and 76 together.
The Deputies will be aware from Budget 2014 that additional funding has been provided which will involve an investment of €15m to support the establishment of book rental schemes in primary schools that do not currently operate them. The Department will provide €5m in seed capital per annum over a three year period to such schools. I want to achieve a position where every primary schools has a book rental schemes in operation in the 2014/2015 school year. The Department will be contacting primary schools that do not currently operate a book rental scheme early in the New Year to advise them of the application process. To qualify for seed capital funding, schools will have to undertake to establish a book rental scheme from September 2014 and in return the Department will commit to the provision of such funding in 2014, 2015 and 2016. This scheme will be confined to primary schools that do not currently operate such a scheme. To extend it to all schools would mean that the funding available to each school would be diluted to such an extent as to have little impact. I wholeheartedly commend schools that have established book rental schemes to date. However, I regret that they will not be eligible to apply for funding under this scheme. I can confirm to the Deputies that the Department will continue to provide a book grant to all primary schools. This grant, which provided €7m to primary schools in 2013, can be utilised for the purposes of updating or expanding a school's book rental scheme.
