"I didn't think I was gonna make it today and I have been told not to be here, but ain't nobody got time for that. I can't miss shows in London."

Computer equipment worth millions of euro is lying half-idle in thousands of primary classrooms as teachers struggle to make best use of it with snail- paced internet access, the Government has been told.

Technology should open up the world to curious young minds — but crawling broadband speeds mean a Waterford primary class can not make best use of their fancy gadgets.

People old enough to remember that it sometimes took more than a year to get a telephone installed in a home will have considerable empathy with the primary schools unable to use computer equipment they have paid for because they do not have an adequate internet signal.