An amount of £64,106 was paid to Dublin Corporation in 1993 towards the provision of a school library service. The grant is paid in respect of all primary school pupils enrolled in the Dublin Corporation area. The present rate of grant is 50p per pupil.
The money is distributed to the chief librarian of the local authority area and, supplemented by other funds at the disposal of the chief librarian, is used to buy books for lending or distribution to schools. The chief librarian has discretion as to the number of books purchased.
The grant to Dublin Corporation was paid in respect of 128,212 primary school pupils.
In the case of second-level schools, my Department makes grants available for the running costs of the schools and it is open to schools to buy books for their libraries out of these grants.
While the level of grant provided takes account of the overhead costs involved, I continue to pursue increases in the level of grant payable, as resources permit. In 1992 the library grant was increased from 38p to 47p per pupil and I secured a further increase in 1993 which brought the grant to its present level of 50p per pupil. In addition, an allocation of £1 million was provided through national lottery funds in 1989 for the replenishment of the stock of books used for the national schools library service.
