Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

Under no circumstances am I aware that any doctoring of an independent report took place. I am quite satisfied it did not. It certainly has never come to my attention that such a thing would happen and I do not believe it would happen within the Department. We must bear in mind the evaluation that was carried out by the inspectorate. While it was accepted the education centres were performing a very important role, we must recognise that ICT, like education, evolves. They were set up in the early 2000s and now, nearly nine years later, we had to have another look. International practice would suggest it is far better to have a principal and a fully trained ICT co-ordinator within each school, providing leadership and ensuring that other teachers within the school are brought into play.

One of the issues that was pertinent in this decision was the impact the service was having. How well aware were schools of the existence of the education centres? My information from the evaluation was that levels of recognition were quite low. Obviously, while the centres were performing an excellent function in many ways, their impact was not equal to that of having the service within the school itself, in accordance with international practice.

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