Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

A key objective of broadband policy is to develop access to at least 100 megabyte per second high speed broadband in secondary schools.

The consultation paper on next generation broadband, published in July, contains a commitment to this project and discussions have taken place between officials of my Department and HEAnet to develop the means by which it will be implemented.

A steering group, including officials from my Department and the Department of Finance, the Department of Education and Science and HEAnet will be established shortly to agree the terms of reference and the programme schedule for the roll-out of the project. A budget allocation has been provided for the roll-out of high speed broadband to some schools in 2009. Details on this first phase of the programme will be available in due course.

See this speech in context