Mary Hanafin and the elusive €252m

Teachers have been waiting for quite some time now for Mary Hanafin to announce when she will be releasing €252m for ICT in schools and the INTO annual congress is where she chose to tell us:
“Of course, I am conscious that ICT has become an essential tool for learning. As you know, the NDP sets out an investment of over €250 million for this purpose by 2013. This will address a wide range of needs from hardware and software, to teacher training, curriculum-relevant digital content, maintenance and technical support. I will shortly be publishing a major evaluation by the inspectorate of the impact of ICTs on teaching and learning and also the Report and Recommendations of the Strategy Group which I asked to advise me on priorities for investment in this area. Implementation of the Group’s recommendations will commence immediately sometime this year.”
Somehow the 3rd and 4th last words have been deleted from the official release of the speech. So it looks like we’re in for another long wait for this money to filter through to the classrooms. I am looking forward to reading what the inspectorate think of the impact on ICT on teaching and learning, considering that they don’t see much of it in action when they visit schools. Why do I think that the conclusions will recommend that Minister Hanafin doesn’t bequeath us with the money?