Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

I can confirm to the Deputy that for counting purposes, it will be 4,200 schools rather than 500,000 students who will have access. That relates to the last question the Deputy raised. Part of the rationale behind the rolling out of the schools broadband programme, as was my rationale when I was Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in rolling out direct broadband access in libraries throughout the country, was to try to counteract and prevent the widening of the digital divide that exists in society. It is by such means that we can try to affect the situation regarding the digital divide to ensure that people have access and, if they cannot afford access themselves, that there will be public points where people can have access to the Internet.

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