Pupils in 100 of the country's most disadvantaged primary schools are to get free school books under a new initiative.
The books will be paid for with the help of an additional €1 million in State funding.
The funding is on top of an existing grant that all schools receive, aimed at reducing the cost of books.
Last year the State spent almost €17m on book grants for schools, with disadvantaged (known as DEIS), schools receiving a higher proportion of the funding.
It is expected that around 15,500 children, in both rural and urban areas, will benefit from the additional funding, which is being provided on a pilot basis.
Minister for Education Joe McHugh said the €1m investment was about reducing costs and easing financial burdens "as well as helping to improve children's education and enjoy the beauty of books".
The pilot programme will see the book grant increase to from €21 to €85 per pupil in the participating schools.
The charity, Barnardos, estimated that €85 was the average cost of school books at primary level.
Last August it called on the Government to provide school books for free to all primary school children.
While just 100 out of the country's 891 DEIS schools will benefit from this additional funding, Minister McHugh said his department hoped to build on the project.
There are also additional schools which are not in the DEIS scheme, but believe that the socio-economic make up of their student bodies mean that they should be.
102 schools will be notified in coming days of their inclusion in the new pilot scheme.
The schools were selected based on their levels of concentrated disadvantage.
