All national schools in Counties Mayo, Galway and Roscommon recognised by my Department are included in the Schools IT 2000 programme. In May of this year I announced the provision of £15 million in grant-aid for the purchase of computers under the technology integration initiative of schools IT 2000. All recognised national schools in the State including those in the above-mentioned counties received grants as follows: ordinary schools: a basic grant of £2,000 plus £5 per pupil; special schools: a basic grant of £3,000 plus £20 per pupil.
All ordinary national schools with one or more special classes received an additional grant of £1,500 plus £20 per pupil in the special class or classes. I have also made provision for a special allocation of £250,000, on a national basis, to provide ICT hardware for individual children with special needs in mainstream classes.
I am also aware that, in many cases, the grant provided by my Department has been added to significantly at local level by local groups, companies and businesses.
Telecom Eireann under the "Information Age Schools" initiative, as a major partner in Schools, IT 2000, has provided each school, including all national schools in the above-mentioned counties, with a multimedia computer and is currently providing each of them with an Internet connection. Telecom Eireann has provided a total of 4,200 computers nationwide under this initiative. Each school is acquiring free installation of a telephone line, free rental of the line for two years, and a number of hours free usage of the line per week for Internet access.