Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

All post-primary schools will have a 100 MB broadband connection installed by the end of 2014 in a project jointly funded by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Department of Education and Skills. This follows on from the successful pilot project which has been running in some second level schools for the past two years. The national roll-out will be completed on an incremental basis, with 200 schools being connected by October 2012, a further 200 being connected in 2013 and the remaining 250 schools being connected in 2014.

This investment is tangible evidence of the Government's commitment to the integration of ICT in teaching and learning, and to our support for a new digital economy. The availability of high quality broadband connectivity will allow schools to fully integrate ICT as a key teaching resource for all subjects. In so doing, we will enhance the traditional learning experience as well as providing basic building blocks for a 21st century digital workforce.

It is expected that the first 200 second level schools in the national roll-out will be connected by September 2012, although some of them will not be connected until October, depending on the arrangements. These include all second level schools in counties Cavan, Clare, Donegal, Galway, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath. Working closely with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, I look forward to the full roll-out of this programme over the next three years.

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