Last year, the Department of Education agreed to pay €450,000 annually to Encyclopaedia Britannica for teachers to access the online encyclopaedias which contain a diverse range of learning objects including text, research aids, video clips, 3D simulations and other media-rich representations.

The problem for teachers, however, is that they cannot gain access to the material on their home computers.

The INTO says the union was not consulted about this significant investment by the Department of Education and that, given the poor state of broadband connectivity in schools, the service will have very limited usefulness for teachers if access continues to be restricted to school computers.

The arrangement has been slammed by Fine Gael spokesman on education Brian Hayes, who wants to know "what is the point in paying half a million euro a year for a service if teachers cannot access it at home?"

Since many - if not all - teachers prepare course work at home, that is where access to this expensive service is needed, Mr Hayes says.

"Why the minister and his department forked out such a large amount of taxpayers' cash for a resource with such limited accessibility is beyond me," he adds. (Sources: Irish Independent, FG)