Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending and I wish him well at the upcoming Council meeting. Deputy McConalogue has covered most of the issues. I wish to comment on one interesting statistic contained in some of the briefing material in respect of nine year olds who are studying in highly digital classroom settings. The EU average in this regard is approximately 40%, whereas only in the region of 25% of nine year olds in this country study in such environments. There is a great deal of work to be done. One of our biggest problems relates to broadband provision. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, recognises that and has made such provision a priority. Have the Minister, Deputy Quinn, and his Cabinet colleague discussed how high quality broadband services might be rolled out to schools in rural areas which are badly in need of them? We will not be able to move towards a model whereby e-books and digital education will become more prevalent unless high quality broadband services are provided. What is the Minister's view of the huge disparity between the EU average and the figure which obtains in this regard in this country?