Quinn urges publishers to cut schoolbook costs

SCHOOLBOOK companies have been asked by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn to go beyond commitments already made to help reduce back-to-school bills for parents.

In response to public criticisms about new editions and expensive textbooks, the minister called in the publishers in June to raise these concerns. On foot of the meeting, the Irish Educational Publishers’ Association (IEPA) wrote to him in early July outlining a code of practice signed up to by a number of publishers.

Among their plans were limits on new editions being published, commitments to work more closely with schools to offer book rental schemes and to make discounted vouchers available for charities to help families with the cost of school books.