‘We get computers that pupils’ parents are replacing at home’

THE computer system at St David’s Boys National School is so outdated that staff rely on replacements from pupils’ parents who are dumping old equipment.

John McGarry, principal of the 400-pupil school in Artane on Dublin’s northside, gets angry whenever anyone mentions IT to him. And he is embarrassed already in advance of a visit next week by staff of an English school, which has state-of-the-art equipment in all its classrooms.

“Our computers were given to us when the Gateway plant closed down nearby, around eight years ago. The network server we run them on is totally outdated and we rely on the voluntary services of a past pupil to keep the thing running,” he said.