Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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94. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether families and children living in rural areas are becoming increasingly disadvantaged in their education due to lack of high-speed or fibre broadband; if he has raised this matter with relevant Cabinet colleagues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45510/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that Broadband capacity can vary due to geographical location and local infrastructure, and thus impact on the service that can be provided. The policy of my Department is to offer the best quality connectivity to all schools in line with the technical solutions available in the market and financial constraints.

Under the current broadband access Programme my Department continually reviews the availability of services and upgrades schools where the opportunity arises, in line with contractual and budgetary requirements. All post primary schools have broadband speeds of 100Mbs or more. In relation to the primary school sector, significant improvement has been made in recent years with the number of primary schools with speeds of greater than 30mbs increasing from less than 100 in 2012 to over 1000 by the end of 2017.

The need to further improve broadband connectivity to primary schools is recognised in the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020, and access to high speed broadband is one of the indicators identified in the Digital Strategy Action Plan. An interDepartmental working group has been established to determine how best to address broadband connectivity to primary schools in collaboration with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and my Department and in the context of the National Broadband Plan and the Intervention Strategy, and proposed industry provision.

As the deputy is aware the National Broadband Plan is a Government wide initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all businesses and households across Ireland. Under the National Broadband Plan, the government has committed to intervening to ensure high speed broadband is available in parts of the country where commercial providers alone will not provide the essential services. This commitment to intervene will ensure that no school is left behind.