Vol. 539 No. 1
424 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the severe shortage of Irish originated educational software on subjects specific to Ireland despite this country's acknowledged leadership in the field of software production. [18709/01]
425 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will approach other relevant Departments with a view to encouraging the production of education-specific software purely for the Irish education systems; and if his attention has been drawn to the non-availability of such material at present due to the small size of the software market here. [18710/01]
426 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Education and Science if he plans to foster the availability of Irish originated software which is specific to education to act as an educational tool across all areas of the curriculum in schools. [18711/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 424 to 426, inclusive, together.
In general, my Department is not directly involved in the production of teaching materials or educational software. However, I recognise that in certain areas of the curriculum, the market for such material in Ireland may be so small as to render commercial production uneconomic. Officials in my Department have arranged to meet representatives of Foras na Gaeilge and the National Centre for Technology in Education, NCTE, to explore how software to support the teaching of Irish might be provided. This issue will also be addressed by the body established under section 31 of the Education Act, 1998.
On the broader issue of educational software, the NCTE is actively involved in partnership with the various subject associations and with practising teachers in encouraging the production of online interactive resources in support of curricular demands.
