PAT O’CALLAGHAN is principal of Burncourt National School, a two-teacher school in south Tipperary, where the 35 boys and girls find the internet a vital research tool, particularly for subjects like geography, history and science.

A THIRD of the country’s schools have an unreliable, slow broadband service which breaks down regularly and prevents pupils from using the internet effectively in class, according to a report to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

THE internet content filtering provided to schools is sometimes too restrictive, a survey has found.