Further roll out of book rental schemes good news for parents

John & Minister Quinn talking to students at St Joseph's JNS breakfast club in December

I  warmly welcome the announcement this morning by Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, that book rental schemes will be available to every primary school in the country by the start of the new school year.

In Budget 2014 it was announced that an extra €5 million will be provided for each of the next three years to invest in book rental schemes so that they are available in every primary school in Ireland.

Today’s announcement by Minister Quinn gives a clear timeline for the roll out of these extra book rental schemes and delivers on that commitment. Schools can apply for a grant to set up a book rental scheme by 31^st January, with funding to be delivered in May to allow schools to plan for the new school year.

A survey by the Department in October showed about 20% of primary schools do not currently have book rental schemes, despite the fact that such schemes can reduce the costs to parents by up to 80%, bringing the average cost per child from about €100 per year, down to about €20 per year.

The extra money announced in Budget 2014 will allow for a grant of €100 per child in each school which is not currently operating a book rental scheme – with the figure at €150 per child in DEIS disadvantaged schools. I know there are many DEIS schools in Dublin North West and it is positive that they will continue to benefit from this higher allocation.

Each year, €15 million is provided to schools to invest in school books which should be used to fund rental schemes and reduce the costs to parents. This funding has been protected since Labour entered Government, and we are now expanding it.

I invited Minister Quinn to the constituency to my former primary school, St Joseph’s NS, Poppintree before Christmas and he saw first-hand the value of the programmes his Department funds particularly for DEIS schools. 

Budget 2014 protected class sizes at primary and secondary level and introduced reforms to reduce the costs of school uniforms and expand breakfast clubs in disadvantaged schools. Today’s announcement about the further roll out of the book rental scheme will be welcomed by hard-pressed families around the country.