Yesterday, the Minister, Norma Foley, announced that she will continue the free primary school book scheme for 2024. She said the funding is to provide, at a minimum, schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks and any surplus is to be used to eliminate the cost of pens, pencils, etc. However, the funding has been cut by 16 6%, from €96 last year to €80 per pupil this year, despite the fact that every single book, copybook and workbook has increased in price since last year. Even where schools made every effort to get secondhand books last year, there was still no surplus funding to buy pens, pencils and calculators. For example, the third class core textbook for the new maths curriculum costs €26 and the sixth class book costs €27.30. Will the Tánaiste ask the Minister for Education to review this and to speak to stakeholders, including parents and schools, in order to assess the real costs?

If the scheme started last year, books were purchased by schools on behalf of pupils. As those in first year move on to second year, schools do not have to buy an entire supply of first year books again. That is the case across the country. The idea is to retain a lot of books for the next year, keep them in working condition and so on. I suspect and surmise that is the context for the figures the Deputy has presented. It is not a cut. In fact, as the Deputy knows, the scheme is being expanded to junior certificate students. We will consider this in the Estimates process, but I hope we can expand the scheme to leaving certificate students for the following academic year.