Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding schools located in catchment areas that are commonly experiencing problems in relation to the rollout of broadband; the way this is impacting on teaching in these schools; the way he intends to resolve these matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19147/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Under the schools Broadband Programme my Department procures broadband services on behalf of schools and under the resultant contracts the best available connections are provided subject to over resources constraints.

Under the Schools Broadband Programme connectivity to the internet is routed through a National Broadband Network, developed by HEAnet - the National Education and Research Network provider. HEAnet controls the broadband access to schools, and it provides centrally managed services for schools such as security, anti-spam/anti-virus and content filtering. A national helpdesk managed by the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) has been established to interface between the network, the Internet Service Providers (ISP) and the schools. It also provides schools with on-going advice and assistance. I am aware of the difficulties that some schools are having in relation to their broadband connectivity and in particular in relation to satellite connections.

Schools are only offered satellite connections where no alternative was offered during the procurement process. Should a better solution become available from the contractors over the lifetime of the contracts, schools will be migrated to the new solution; to date approximately over 200 additional schools have been migrated off satellite to a fixed line or wireless service under the phase 2 contracts.

The current broadband contracts are due to be re-tendered this year, my officials have explored the options with industry on how to further reduce the number of schools reliant on satellite and as a result anticipate a further reduction in schools reliant on satellite.