Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
453. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Education if a school (details supplied) HEAnet promised upgrade can be brought forward as the current service is very poor and not fit for purpose particularly during Covid-19 restrictions in which students are unable to log on to class from home if self-isolating due to Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34904/20]
View answerThrough the Schools Broadband Access Programme the Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary and post primary schools, and some 98% of schools are included in this scheme. The Department's High Speed Broadband Programme, provides all recognised post-primary schools, high speed broadband with a minimum broadband speed of 100mbs. There are 58 special schools also included in this programme, managed for the Department by HEAnet.
The school referred to by the Deputy has a high speed broadband connection of 100 Mbit/s which is uncontended and symmetrical, meaning this is a dedicated service to the school. Given that this is an uncontended service the school should have 100Mbp/s connectivity. HEAnet is currently conducting an extensive upgrade programme for post-primary schools that has already seen some 47% of schools upgraded to speeds greater that 200Mbp/s. A further 380 post-primary schools are now due an upgrade to that level of connectivity. That will see over 80% of post-primary schools with connections of 200 Mbp/s or higher.
This upgrade programme is based on demonstrated requirements, and in the current circumstances the system is being closely monitored to prioritise those most in need of the higher speed connectivity, in line with contractual and procurement regulations.
Under this upgrade programme, Holy Faith secondary school has now been awarded to a provider of high speed fibre broadband, and the new service provider will be in contact with the school in due course. In the interim, the current service provider is working to increase the current broadband speeds to 200mb/s and this work is expected to be finalised over the coming week.
The delivery of high quality broadband connectivity for all schools is a key objective of my Department, to support the embedding of digital technologies in teaching and learning. The Schools Broadband Programme is operated by my Department at an annual cost of some €13m.
