Vol. 457 No. 8
74 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the fact that schools on the Internet outside of the Dublin area must pay trunk calls charges to avail of the service; her views on whether schools should be allowed to have a local charge facility; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16369/95]
Schools may access Internet in two ways, through NITEC or using a commercial service such as Ireland On-Line.
NITEC is a schools' computer communications network which is funded by my Department and managed by Dublin City University. Schools accessing through NITEC pay the following charges; local telephone call charge, an access tariff of approximately 5p per minute and Telecom EIRPAC account cost of £7.50 per quarter. In addition there is a registration fee of £40 when opening an EIRPAC account.
Schools accessing the internet using a commercial service pay the following charges; telephone call charge which depends on the location of the school and the nearest dial-up point for the commercial service, and a fee per month for the service, approximately £10 per month.
An information pack and NITEC newsletters have been circulated to all second-level schools. An internet guide was circulated to schools which are members of NITEC in 1995. I intend to issue a circular to all schools on the services available through NITEC.
