Sir, – How was Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte allowed to get away with the boast that he was “very proud of the plan to deliver 100Mbps broadband to all second-level schools” by 2014? (Home News, January 4th). Northern Ireland has had broadband connectivity in all its schools for nearly 12 years, with the system upgraded to 100 Mbps last year.
A 2008 report to the Minister for Education and Science noted an OECD finding that “a lack of sustained investment in ICT infrastructure has resulted in Irish schools falling far behind their European peers”. Rather than trumpeting modest gains, Mr Rabbitte should be humbly acknowledging that we are beginning to catch up with the rest of Europe (and the North). – Yours, etc,