Dublin Port Company Supports €140k IT Refurbishment in St. Joseph’s National School, East Wall

Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform Paschal Donohoe TD today visited St. Joseph’s Co-Ed School in East Wall, Dublin, to announce the completion of a €140,000 IT refurbishment, courtesy of Dublin Port Company as part of its ongoing MP2 Project.

The refurbishment includes the installation of 17 Clevertouch interactive digital screens, with 75” IMPACT Max screens across 11 classrooms and three Special Education Classrooms, and additional Clevertouch screens in the sports hall, reception and staff room.

These screens connect to each other as a network, allowing the principal to issue announcements through instant messaging. These state-of-the-art screens can be used interchangeably by any teacher across the staff.

Students can interact with the screens through their personal Chromebook laptops, which are already in use as part of day-to-day schoolwork.

Other features of Clevertouch include a free lesson building tool called Lynx Whiteboard, 4K Ultra HD Display for clear and vivid content, and a built-in array microphone for recording lessons with sound.

This new technology presents a tangible way for young children to sharpen their problem-solving skills. This is more crucial than ever as the level of performance in maths among Irish students declined from 2018 to 2022, according to the OECD’s programme for international student assessment (PISA).

This refurbishment is part of Dublin Port Company’s MP2 Project, a strategic infrastructure development project to develop existing port lands as part of the Dublin Port Masterplan 2040. In 2021, also as part of the community benefit section of the project, Minister Donohoe opened a new playground at St. Joseph’s.

Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform Paschal Donohoe TD, said: “These new interactive screens will allow the classes of St. Joseph’s to learn and solve problems in an engaging and dynamic learning environment. This state-of-the-art IT upgrade will give the children additional technological skills and capabilities and will make managing the school environment and communicating with staff and pupils so much easier. St. Joseph’s is going from strength to strength and I thank Dublin Port Company for their continued support to the local community.”

The Minister made special use of the network of interactive screens to formally announce across the school that there would be no homework on Monday.

Barry O’Connell, Chief Executive of Dublin Port Company, commented: “Dublin Port is a vital hub for international trade, but it has also played a key role in the development of communities. We are delighted to continue our longstanding support of St Joseph’s and hope this technological upgrade should open up new opportunities for the next generation of East Wallers to make their own mark.

“East Wall has been synonymous with dock workers throughout the history of Dublin. A lot about shipping may have changed in the last century, but Dublin Port has not forgotten its ties to this wonderful community.”

Maureen O’Sullivan, Chairperson of the Board of Management at St. Joseph’s, added: “This is a great opportunity for the students of St. Joseph’s to add to their love of learning through cutting-edge technology that puts the student first. We thank Dublin Port Company for their support and engagement with the community.”