I will cut to the chase here. The reason for the digital divide is that the Department of education has introduced a syllabus, particularly in senior cycle in secondary school, which has such a high level of assessment, 40% in many cases, that school principals have decided that students need laptops. It is because of the new syllabus the Department has introduced. There was a very good article by the RTÉ education correspondent on this in January. What is happening in schools is that Wriggle and other companies are wooing principals and trying to wine and dine them in order to get contracts. Overnight stays in the K Club and five-star retreats are being offered to principals. I am not saying that principals are going along with this or are doing anything wrong, I am just outlining the facts for the Minister of State. This should be done by means of public procurement. I absolutely agree with the previous speaker. We need to have an audit to establish whether it is good for children to be on screens. There is loads of scientific evidence that it is not good. Certainly, older children and teenagers need laptops or access to computers in order do assessments and assignments and to have a fair chance, which they do not have, in this education system. The Minister of State needs to make this a public procurement issue as opposed to leaving it up to individual schools. If students need equipment, it should be provided. During the pandemic, I returned to teaching at a school in west Tallaght. At that time, students were on their phones trying to cope because the Department of Education did not provide them with equipment to allow them to engage with remote learning. The addiction that many teenagers developed in respect of their phones during the pandemic is the Department's fault. I do not have time to go into all of the other costs that are being imposed on parents. In the context of the issue to which I refer, however, the Department needs to invest.

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