I wish to raise the free school books scheme, as announced in budget 2023. The scheme was presented as a universal measure from which all families and children would benefit in a €9.6 billion budget in the Department of Education. A total of over €50 million is being spent on free books but this does not apply to children in fee-paying schools. We have just heard from the Taoiseach in the Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality, who spoke about gender budgeting and universal measures that benefit gender budgeting. Could the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform look again at this scheme, calculate the additional money that would be needed to make it universal and to include all children, and explain the rationale for leaving those children out when their parents are taxpayers and this was presented as a universal measure?

The Minister for Education and her officials are working on the detailed design of that scheme and how it will be operated in practice but I was certainly clear in my own mind and in the budget announcement on the day that it was in respect of publicly funded schools. That was the basis of the discussion we had but it is now a matter for the Minister for Education to work through the detailed design of the scheme and I am sure she will take on board the points made by the Deputy.