Publishers blame Vat rate for cost of books

The publishers of school books have demanded a change in government policy on Vat on e-textbooks and said they were doing all they could to limit the costs borne by parents.

The Irish Educational Publishers’ Association (IEPA), which is made up of large companies, including Gill & Macmillan and CJ Fallon, stressed that just 42 books from more than 2,336 were revised last year, and half of those were due to curriculum change.

It made the comments as it published its annual survey, which revealed that the number of e-textbooks in use last year reached 40,000, up from just 100 in 2010.

However, that is still just 1% of overall sales of schoolbooks and while e-textbooks can be as much as 30% cheaper than printed version, the IEPA said the savings were offset by the imposition of 23% Vat.

It said it would continue to lobby government to lower the Vat rate and said despite “some public misconceptions”, publishers were not adding to the financial burden of families. IEPA general secretary Cliodhna O’Donoghue said the survey indicates book prices have remained stable while total revenues from educational publications fell from €54m in 2010 to €51m in 2012, mainly due to a rise in school book rental schemes which IEPA said it supports through discounts of 10% to 15% to schools buying in bulk.

“This indicates that expenditure per pupil on textbooks has significantly decreased, despite an increase in pupil numbers,” said Ms O’Donoghue.

The survey analysis suggested that despite a significant global hike in paper costs, there have been no increases in school book prices since 2009, and in some cases since 2008.

The survey also showed that 66% of printing has remained in Ireland.

Responding to the survey results June Tinsley, Barnardos policy officer, said: “Although the IEPA survey shows only a small portion of books were reprinted, this was not the experience of the majority of parents who took part in the Barnardos School Survey 2013.

“The inability to pass on books between siblings remains a constant criticism of parents. This is due to new editions of books being printed or teachers choosing different books from previous years and the ongoing use of workbooks which cannot be recycled.”

Don Myers, president of the National Parents’ Council Post-Primary, said: “The bottom line is that the books need to become cheaper and we think it can be done.”

Book firm Educate.ie refuted the IEPA statement on the survey as it claimed Folens had admitted to increasing their prices in a recent interview and the IEPA statement “airbrushes the Educate.ie policy of giving free ebooks with all text books and wrongly blames the 23% Vat rate for the high cost of ebooks”.