1289. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth the percentage of schools that have a JCSP library in their school. [62363/26]

1290. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth her plans to ensure that each school has a JCSP library in the school. [62364/26]

1291. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of JCSP libraries that currently do not have librarians. [62365/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1289 to 1291, inclusive, together.

The JCSP Demonstration Library Project was developed in 2002 under the Early Literacy Initiative. It was introduced as a part of the Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP), a targeted social inclusion programme aimed at students identified as being at risk of being socially or academically isolated or at risk of early school leaving before the (then) Junior Certificate had been achieved.

The Demonstration Library Project is based in 30 schools, or four percent of post-primary schools. Each library has a professional librarian employed by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, working as part of a network to operate the library facility. This network of professionals is managed by the Senior Librarian and in total 32 librarians are employed as part of the project. Librarians are responsible, together with key school staff, for drawing up and implementing library strategies to tackle the literacy difficulties experienced by many JCSP students.

It should be noted that, as part of the implementation of the Framework for Junior Cycle (2015), it was agreed to carry out a review of the JCSP and consider the extent to which the needs of students undertaking the JCSP are met through the reformed Junior Cycle. This review is currently ongoing, with the programme closed to new applicants.

Social inclusion and library access, however, is being addressed through other programmes. The DEIS Strategy to 2035 was launched earlier this year and its implementation plan, for example, contains an action for the department to work in partnership with the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) and the Public Library Service to strengthen strategic linkages between libraries and schools. This collaboration will underpin the provision of services that support children and young people in the community, particularly those experiencing educational disadvantage.

Also launched as part of the DEIS Strategy to 2035, the DEIS Plus scheme represents the most significant expansion of targeted supports since the establishment of DEIS. DEIS Plus is designed to provide enhanced, evidence-based supports to a cohort of 129 schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage, identified through a refined data-based model that draws on a range of indicators associated with persistent and intergenerational disadvantage. The DEIS Plus scheme implementation plan also contains an action to provide funding to enhance library provision in post-primary schools.

The Public Library Service also offers a range of useful supports and services to schools.

The Library Service published ‘The Library is the Place: National Public Library Strategy 2023-2027’ in July 2023. Under this strategy and the Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy, the Department will further enhance the partnership with the Library Service to increase school usages of the resources that are available through the public libraries.