Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked a question about access to broadband. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, and myself have a programme, which will be completed this year, to provide a rollout of a 100 megabytes infrastructure to all post-primary schools in the country, which number approximately 730. We are considering the primary sector but we do not have the same clear picture in that respect. There is a wide spectrum of primary schools that are much more digitally turned on and that is a function of the size of the school. Schools range in size from 50 to 60 pupils to 700 pupils. We are talking informally to some of the primary school principals to examine how we can prioritise access to broadband in those schools. A note I have on this area states that the Department is currently embarking on the development of a new digital strategy for schools. It also states that consultation with all the stakeholders is a key part of the strategy and this will inform the Department in planning for the exploitation of the full potential for ICT in education at primary and post-primary levels. There is the in-house equipment and then there is access to the wider area which requires access to broadband. While we make no distinction at post-primary level between all 730 schools, it would not be physically or financially possible to adopt a similar approach for all 3,200 primary schools. We are examining how we might link that infrastructure.