Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 31 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 2

Written Answers. - School Libraries.

Trevor Sargent

Ceist:

177 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will monitor the success of the dedicated grant given to school libraries for book purchases in view of evidence that some schools are legitimately using the grant largely to purchase textbooks and, accordingly, school libraries are not benefiting as was originally intended; and if he will ensure that the grant is dedicated to the restocking of libraries. [2694/01]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

In recent years two special grants have issued to primary schools and to post primary schools to assist them with the development of their library resource materials. The first special grant was issued by my Department in December 1998. At that time all primary schools received a grant of £1,000 per school, while schools designated as disadvantaged received £3,170 each. The grant issued to second level schools in December 1998 amounted to £2,500, while disadvantaged schools received £5,320.

A second special grant issued to all primary and post primary schools in December 1999 as part of the national reading initiative. Under the terms of this grant primary schools received a payment of £7.70 per pupil, while a minimum grant of £462 was issued to all schools with 60 pupils or fewer. Post primary schools also received £7.70 per pupil, while a minimum grant of £1,540 was paid to all schools with fewer than 200 recognised pupils. At primary level the total value of these two grants was approximately £7.7 million, while at second level the two grants amounted to £5.2 million.

In addition to issuing grants, to schools my Department also issued comprehensive guidelines to schools on the types of resources that the grant money could be used to purchase. At primary level these guidelines took the form of a publication called "Book Choice""Guidelines for Primary Schools" which issued in early 1999 and departmental circular 35/99 which issued in December 1999. At post primary level departmental circular M16/99 "Guidelines for reading at second level" was issued to schools in May 1999 and departmental circular M51/99 was issued in December 1999.

These guidelines make it quite clear that the grants were intended to assist schools in developing their library resource materials. Indeed "Book Choice" encouraged schools to liaise with the public library service when purchasing books for school libraries. I would add that, in the course of visits to schools by my Department's inspectors, it would be normal practice for inspectors to look at the resources available in schools' libraries.

I am not aware of schools using the moneys received in respect of these grants to purchase textbooks. My Department operates, at both primary and post primary levels, annual schemes to assist schools with the purchase of textbooks for disadvantaged pupils. Accordingly, there should be no reason for schools to use the library grants for this purpose.