John Bruton
Ceist:215 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education if all Irish schools which have computer systems, operate systems which are mutually compatible and compatible with the computers in use in her Department.
Written Answers. - Schools' Computer Systems.
All second level schools, with a few exceptions, have been grant-aided to purchase Apple IIe computers together with the appropriate software. The exceptions refer to schools which at the time of the grant schemes had already purchased BBC computers and which opted to have these upgraded.
Compatibility between computer systems as far as the Apple computer is concerned is thus guaranteed.
Communication between schools themselves and also between the schools and the Department is facilitated by the use of electronic mail. The mode for this facility is located at NITEC, The National Centre for Information Technology in Education, in Dublin City University. This facility is not dependent on the type of computer in use and some 100 schools are already on the system. It is understood that NITEC proposes to increase this to 160 schools shortly. Computers supplied to national schools by the Department of Education are mutually compatible. Specific arrangements for linkage with departmental computers have not been made.