Computer school lacks broadband

THE education of students at Ireland’s first all-computer secondary school is being curtailed because they do not have access to broadband, it was claimed yesterday.

The principal of Colaiste Chiarain in Croom, Co Limerick school where students use laptops instead of books, warned students are being disadvantaged because they cannot get access to the high-speed internet connection, despite repeated requests to Eircom.

“We have satellite broadband, but this is totally inadequate as at any one time between classroom and computer rooms we could have more than 500 users trying to access broadband. We are just six miles from the Dell plant which have supported the computer programme in the school by donating more than 70 laptops. But we cannot get a broadband connection. It’s just crazy, incredible,” said principal Noel Malone.

Coláiste Chiarain has blazed a hi-tech tech trail over the past five years. Computer mogul Michael Dell said the school was a world leader.

Student numbers have rocketed from 80 to almost 600 and the teaching staff has risen from 12 to 55 since the switchover to laptops. Six years ago it enrolled just six first-year students. Next September it will take in 140.

To meet the spiralling demand for places, Limerick County VEC has lodged a planning application for a €15 million school on a greenfield site near the Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom. It is hoped the new school will be ready within three years.

However, Mr Malone said the current internet link-up to schools offered by National Centre for Technology in Education is inadequate.

“It is causing major problems and I have been on to Eircom for the past 12 months to give us a connection. It is only a matter for Eircom to make the effort.”

A spokesperson for Eircom said the roll-out of broadband had now moved on from cities to towns with populations above 1,500.

“Although Croom is not currently listed, we continue to review the roll-out programme,” the spokesperson said.