Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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193. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of laptops delivered and allocated to each further education institution in tabular form. [29096/20]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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A fund for student devices worth €15 million was part of a €168 million package for further and higher education sectors to deal with the impacts of Covid-19. Funding of €10 million has been provided to the higher education sector and €5m to the Further Education and Training sector.

The funding is being provided to eligible Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in accordance with allocation models agreed with the HEA and SOLAS.

In the case of further education and training, grant funding is being provided to ETBs rather than individual institutions. Under the terms of the grant, devices must remain the property of the ETB, be offered to students under appropriate lending schemes, and also comply with certain conditions of sanction set down by the Office of Government Chief Information Officer in relation to security and appropriate usage.

The table below shows the final number of laptops that each ETB has ordered under the scheme. Precise information on the number of deliveries is not available but I understand that approximately half of the orders have been fulfilled to date.