There is a commitment in the programme for Government to extend the free school books scheme nationwide following the pilot scheme that was run for a number of DEIS schools in 2020. Moreover, there is a constitutional duty on the State to provide free primary education, which it fails to do every year. The Children's Rights Alliance report card for 2022 was launched yesterday and highlighted the lack of progress towards reaching the goal of free books in every school nationwide. Every year the results of the Barnardos' back to school survey highlights the stress families are placed under due to the cost of school books. One parent stated:

Our education system is way too expensive, the back to school allowance definitely doesn't even half cover the expenses of primary school kids, even with a book rental scheme. I dread this time of year even more than I dread Christmas time.

The funding for the pilot was not continued or extended in budgets 2021 or 2022 and results of the pilot scheme have not been published. Where do we go from here? Will the results of the pilot be published prior to budget 2023? Will the Government commit to providing free school books? They have been estimated to cost €40 million overall, comprising €20 million for primary and €20 million for secondary.

I will raise the issue of the free school books scheme with the Minister for Education.

We are increasing the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance from the autumn. We are also significantly expanding DEIS provision from next September, with an increase of approximately 20% in funding. As the Deputy will be aware, the Department is currently going through a detailed process, including consultation, in selecting which schools should benefit from the DEIS status that we are committed to providing the funding for. I will ask the Minister for Education to respond directly to the Deputy regarding the scheme.