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22 Oct 2025
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22 Oct 2025
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Kilkenny Councillor Deirdre Cullen has welcomed the extension of the free school books scheme to second-level students in this yesterday's budget, following the rollout across primary schools this September.
"This is extremely welcome and necessary as so many parents have been crippled by the ever increasing cost of second level education," says Cllr Cullen.
"As a second level teacher and Home School liaison coordinator in Kilkenny for many years, I know the financial burden felt by many parents each year as the school year starts and have continually called particularly for help in reducing back to school book costs for parents of second level students," says Cllr Cullen.
"Many parents do not qualify for the back to school allowance and struggle to afford these costs especially where there is no book rental scheme in operation in many schools. The expansion of the free book scheme will kick in for the next academic year and will positively impact up to 770,000 students across the county and country. Free school books, calculators, dictionaries, copybooks and other classroom resources will be provided for first, second and third year students as part of a €55m package by Minister Foley. Schools will receive the funding to purchase resources and provide them to pupils. There will also be an increase in funding for school transport and an expansion of the hot meals programme to Primary School in the country.
"Families with an income of less than €100,000 will see college fees for undergraduates halved from €3,000 to €1,500 this year and all other families will see undergraduate full-time student fees cut by €1,000.
"All children and young adults have a right to equality in education with no exception and these measures announced today will go a long way to ensure that no child is left behind in their journey to achieve to their full potential in education in Kilkenny," Cllr Cullen said.
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