Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I apologise for missing the presentation because I was obliged to go to the Dáil Chamber. I was just saying to Deputy Cannon that I should declare an interest because some of my lads attend CoderDojo and with many thanks to Camara Ireland, have got laptops to do that. Again, I apologise if the witnesses already have addressed this point but the evolution of technology must be their greatest challenge. For example, it was reported on the news this morning that Apple has made profits of $18 billion and as most people now access the Intranet on their telephones, I presume a lot of the technology is becoming obsolete very quickly, even if the witnesses are getting discarded goods and are recycling. I recall my own days in the classroom, when video-conferencing was the new buzzword and at the time, we were at the cutting-edge of it and were doing the pilot projects on it. However, it was discarded quickly because it became obsolete as new technologies emerged. I asked the witnesses to outline briefly their current status in this regard when looking to the future in respect of education.