Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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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.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy very much for raising this very important issue of the extension of access to the junior certificate school programme digital libraries to those schools that joined DEIS after 2022.

The junior certificate school programme is a national programme sponsored by the Department of Education and National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. Introduced in 1996, it is a social inclusion programme that is aimed at students who are identified as being at risk of being socially or academically isolated or at risk of early school leaving before the then junior certificate has been achieved.

One of the initiatives under the JCSP is the JCSP demonstration library project. School librarians work as part of a network of librarians in the JCSP demonstration library project. Within the demonstration library project, there are 32 professional librarians employed by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, CDETB, based in 30 schools that operate the library facility. They are managed by a senior librarian. Together with key school staff, librarians are responsible for drawing up and implementing library strategies to tackle the literacy difficulties experienced by many JCSP students. Each year, each library receives a grant from JCSP. The grant funds literacy and numeracy initiatives, book buying and resources for the library. Expenditure is approved in advance by the senior librarian.

The JCSP digital library is a centrally managed online e-book and e-audiobook lending library that is free for students and staff in all JCSP or DEIS schools. The collection consists of a wide range of teenage and young adult titles to suit all year groups, interests and ability levels. In addition, the library hosts collections of titles to support teacher professional learning and staff-parent book clubs. The collection currently consists of 10,500 unique titles, with multiple copies or class sets or both of many of these, bringing the overall total to more than 45,000 items. More than 600 titles are available for simultaneous use, meaning they are always available to borrow without wait lists or holds. New titles are being added to the collections on an ongoing basis. To date, more than 100,000 individual students and 9,000 staff from more than 220 schools have been set up with library membership. Borrowing levels are increasing year on year, with over 84,700 items borrowed from the library from 2021 to 2022, which is a 47% increase on the previous year.

In 2023, the JCSP programme received total funding of €3.6 million from the Department of Education. An amount of €2.1 million was with regard to salaries of the network of librarians in the JCSP programme and €1.5 million was provided for programme costs.

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 junior cycle. The work of a review group established to progress this was paused as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and work is now recommencing.

Library space is provided as standard as part of all new primary and post-primary school buildings and as part of some school extension projects. The standard provision at primary school is a combined library and resource space of 66 sq. m. For schools of 32 classrooms and more, two such spaces are provided. At post-primary level, a single library space is provided where the size is determined in proportion to the planned number of pupils at the school.

Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State very much. It is safe to say there was nothing in that reply that will send me home with the wind in my sails this evening.

Notwithstanding that, I note there are probably young secondary school teachers who will tell me they were in junior cycle when it was agreed to carry out a review of the JCSP as part of the implementation of the framework for junior cycle back in 2015. I appreciate that work was paused as a consequence of Covid-19 but at least it is good to hear that it has now been resumed.

I will draw the Minister of State's attention but more specifically, the attention of the Department officials who are hopefully listening, to a letter that appeared in the Irish Examiner newspaper recently from Ms Andrea Dillon, secretary of the school libraries group of the Library Association of Ireland, and Ms Kathleen Moran, senior librarian and JCSP library project chair. They stated that they wanted to:

reiterate our realistic and concrete demand; the minister [for education] must, at long last, fulfil the department’s 2005 commitment to extend the Junior Certificate School Programme Demonstration Library Project to all Deis schools. Recent joint Oireachtas committee reports have identified this as "an urgent national priority". The groundbreaking benefits that school libraries confer upon students from deprived backgrounds are available in only 30 out of 235 Deis schools.

It is fair to say that based on that, it is fairly damning. We are failing our pupils in many of our most disadvantage and deprived communities right across Ireland. We have a proud literary tradition in this country. As we try to counter the influence of online material and smartphones, at the very minimum, we need to be giving schools is access to a school library and books for pupils. I think the House would agree that in the region of €3 million per annum to fund this service nationally is derisory and needs to be rapidly improved.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy again for raising this important matter. The junior certificate school programme aims to provide a curriculum framework that assists schools and teachers in making the junior cycle more accessible to those young people who may leave school without formal qualifications. It attempts to help young people experience success and develop a positive self-image by providing a curriculum and assessment framework suitable to their needs.

Since its introduction in 1996, the JCSP expanded from 32 schools to the current 221. 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 to what extent the needs of the students who are taking the JCSP are met through the junior cycle. As I stated, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted this, but that matter is now recommencing. The Department of Education provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential.

Supplementing the universal supports available to all schools in delivering the equality of opportunity in schools DEIS programme is a key policy initiative of the Department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level in a targeted and equitable way across the primary and post-primary sectors. In March 2022, the Minister, Deputy Foley, announced the single largest expansion of the DEIS programme. This benefited 38 post-primary schools and the programme now includes in the region of 1,200 schools and supports approximately 260,000 students. One in four students and 30% of schools are now supported in the programme. This expansion added an additional €32 million to the Department of Education's expenditure on the DEIS programme for 2023, bringing the overall Department allocation for the programme to more than €180 million.