Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations, for which I am very appreciative. I apologise for the turnout at the committee. I am slightly out of my comfort zone on the rural agenda, but the witnesses might appreciate I have some questions about broadband in particular. The INTO document states there are 3,124 schools in the State. It goes on in the section relating to broadband to outline that 1,500 schools do not receive high-speed broadband services. Could the witnesses detail the day-to-day realities of the expectations of the teacher and the student in rural areas in terms of the curriculum in comparison to the urban environment where, presumably, high-speed broadband exists?

Separately, out-of-school activities and STEM were mentioned. I would like to hear the Minister start to refer to STEAM rather than STEM and to bring the arts into that picture. The witnesses will appreciate that the arts also fall under the remit of the committee. Out-of-school activities were mentioned. My vision for the arts is one in which they are valued as much as science, technology, engineering and mathematics and in which the infrastructure exists to excel outside the formal education environment. Young people should be seen as artists in their own right, not only as future artists or audiences. My belief is that we need a national youth arts strategy that would enable this area to grow outside the formal education environment to provide extracurricular activities for young people. Reduced access was mentioned by the ASTI, and I welcome that.

I am showing my ignorance here, but the fact there are one-teacher schools has come as a surprise to me. It is scandalous that any school would be left with one teacher, particularly in terms of inclusion, isolation and so on, so I thank the witnesses for including the issue in their contributions and highlighting it for me. Sin é.