Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak to the issue of the extension of access to the junior cycle schools programme, JCSP, digital libraries to all schools, particularly DEIS schools. Notwithstanding a proud literary tradition and as a son of a county that gave us Maria Edgeworth, Goldsmith, Padraic Colum and, more recently, John Connell and Belinda McKeon, it is regrettable that our schools network is strangled with an underresourced and restricted library service. Ironically, we often criticise our near neighbour's delivery of education, but the UK has a long-established tradition of professionally staffed school libraries. Ireland, unfortunately, does not have a national policy or funding model for school libraries, instead relying mainly on the goodwill of teachers and effectively stealing from budgets to finance their library service.

I understand that the Department funds just 30% or 40% of 730 post-primary school libraries nationally. Known as the JCSP, these funded school libraries serve schools in disadvantaged areas. The JCSP libraries are models of best practice but every school in the country should have a library and service of that quality. There is a need to ensure, at a minimum, that all DEIS schools can access this and, in time, that all secondary schools can access it.

Many European countries have enshrined school libraries in law, such as France and the Netherlands, but unfortunately there is no such safeguard here in Ireland. The current situation has been highlighted to me by Laura McEnroe, the special educational needs co-ordinator in Meán Scoil Mhuire in Longford. Ironically, it is the alma mater of one of the aforementioned authors, Belinda McKeon. The school was recently approved for DEIS status. This was a significant intervention, given the level of social and economic disadvantage in the county town. Access to the digital e-book and audiobook lending library would be an invaluable resource for students at this and other secondary schools. However, Ms McEnroe was recently told that the Department of Education had refused to extend access to this resource to schools which join DEIS after 2022. This seems most unfair and is certainly contrary to the spirit and ethos that underpins the DEIS programme. The JCSP is not available to Meán Scoil Mhuire either.

Access to the JCSP programme would make the curriculum accessible and relevant to young students who need more individualised programmes to meet their education needs. Many students in junior cycle would benefit greatly from this programme. Unfortunately, however, this and many other schools simply cannot access it at the moment. It is critical that all schools and, as a matter of urgency, DEIS supported schools, have access to the digital e-book and audiobook lending library and the JCSP programme.

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