Louth TD welcomes free school book scheme
It will offer free school books for all students in Junior Cycle years
Local TD, Fergus O’Dowd, has welcomed details of a scheme which the government say will ease the financial burden facing families during back-to-school time from September.
O’Dowd said: “This scheme will ensure that parents and guardians of students enrolled in Junior Cycle years in public secondary schools will not be asked to buy or rent any school books for the 2024/25 school year.
“It will offer free school books, and core classroom resources for all students in Junior Cycle years.
“I am also pleased to confirm that special schools in Louth and Meath where children and young people with special educational needs are enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes will also receive the Junior Cycle rate in respect of these students in 2024/25.
“Funding of €68 million is being provided for this initiative which will benefit 212,000 students enrolled in approximately 670 secondary schools nationwide.
“It comes as free school books, including the cost of any workbooks and copybooks, were introduced for primary school students from September last year.
“Schools will be provided with sufficient funding to cover the costs of providing these items. School books will be the property of the school and must be returned at the end of the school year or the Junior Cycle.”
Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Josepha Madigan said:
“The delivery of this Programme for Government commitment will make a real difference to back-to-schools costs for parents and guardians of students with special educational needs attending mainstream and special classes in post-primary schools.
"Importantly, where a student in a special school is enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes the school will receive the post-primary school books rate, which will further support their learning and development.
"As with the primary scheme, schools have the flexibility to use funding to purchase classroom resources to meet the specific learning needs of students once the cost of schoolbooks and core classroom resources are met.
“This flexibility is particularly important for students with special educational needs.”