Kitt calls for funding to be reinstated for school library book scheme

Galway East Fianna Fáil TD Michael Kitt has made a plea for the reinstatement of funding for a 40-year old school library book scheme.

The former teacher raised the issue on the Dáil adjournment, calling on the Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe TD to consider providing the €2 million funding necessary for the scheme.

Speaking in Dáil Eireann, Deputy Kitt said: “The School Library Service is a wonderful service which has been operating in County Galway for some 40 years now. There are structures in place to provide school books to every national school in a county on a rotating basis. For example, the books purchased by the service in Galway are made available to all schools in the city and county.”

“Every school is visited twice a year and they return books that have been read and they are provided with a new and different selection for the upcoming term.”

“A number of reading projects run by the SLS have been of great benefit to schools, including the class novel scheme under which any school that wishes to read a class novel during a term can borrow up to 15 copies.”

“The SLS has been in place in County Galway for 40 years. It has survived some lean and tough years and it would be a shame if all the hard work that was put into building up this service should be wasted if provision is not made in the Estimates.”

“The school book grant provided by the Department of Education and Science amounts to €2.1 million for the entire State. It is a small sum in the context of the €8 billion budget of the Department. This resulted in an allocation of €117,000 for County Galway or €4.50 per child in 2008, which is a small percentage of the Department's budget.”

“The grant was not available in 2009 and I would like it to be reintroduced in 2010.”

“There is a danger with all the focus on the technology that we will forget about reading. Reading should be encouraged from a young age and reading for pleasure should not become a thing of the past. It is important that this facility be provided and, as a former teacher, it is important that we encourage both reading and writing. I used to welcome the library van to the school in which I taught and I hope that service will continue.”

“I had the privilege of serving as a Minister of State in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and I had responsibility for libraries. I pushed hard for library development and I would be disappointed if, while this Department was promoting library services, the Department of Education and Science did not restore the book grant,” concluded Michael Kitt TD.