70 of 7,800 schoolbooks see price hike

School book publishers say they have kept price increases and new editions to just 1% of thousands of titles in the last three years and that more than one-third are now available in ebook format.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn secured commitments from most publishers last summer to develop a code of practice aimed at helping reduce costs to parents.

Among the requirements are a restriction on bringing out revised editions except where there are major changes to subject courses, and that older editions would be kept in print even after new editions are released.