School broadband stats show govt in dark ages

Issued : Monday 19 July, 2010

"Irish school children are being left behind our international counter-parts everyday because of a lack of high speed broadband in schools.

"At the rate we are going children in Mongolia will be more prepared for the smart economy than Irish school students.

"The fact that only two per cent of Irish schools have access to high-speed broadband means that the majority of Irish children are not being provided with what is now a vital educational tool - high speed internet access.

"The truth is that high speed broadband is effectively unavailable in Ireland.

"What we have in terms of speed is about 80 times behind India or Japan and about half the speed that is available in France.

"Even Mongolia has better broadband then us!

"Given how important broadband is going to be for the future economic development of the country, it is essential that schools are provided with what is quickly becoming a vital tool for modern education.

"The internet is now our principal point for information and our first, second and third level students need to be educated in such a way that will give them an edge in an era of smart economic growth.

"However the majority of broadband in Ireland is only really useful for accessing Bebo or Facebook - it is not the foundation on which you build smart economy.

"Either the government changes its attitude or you will gradually see investment slide away from Ireland to the parts of the world where the most technically innovative and highly-skilled graduates reside.

"Internet education should start early in life so that the full benefits of what can be done online can be seen, understood and then applied to the workforce in a way that can generate wealth.

"The Government must get its act together if we want sustainable economic growth in the long term."