With some 60,000 computers (and counting) in Irish schools, and virtually every school connected to the Internet, an interesting money-spinner flashes £££signs in marketing people's eyes.

From the creation of brand loyalty to a whole new market in software, information technology (IT) in the schools offers unique potential for shrewd corporations.

Eircom is one of the biggest sponsors of schools IT. As the competition among telecommunication companies heats up, schools are the recipients of Eircom's £15 million investment in the technology.

In addition to the direct business this ensures, there's the "get 'em young" factor. Students familiar with the Eircom logo at school may just stick with what they know as they turn into adults with phone bills and a need for an Internet service provider.

Eircom is not alone. Microchip multinational giant Intel, which has a huge plant in Ireland, has been deeply involved in setting up the big website for schools, ScoilNet - which will have a commerce section selling education products.

And teachers receive educational software from a range of companies all the time. Mega-billionaire Bill Gates, founder and chief executive of software company Microsoft, has publicly declared that schools are an ideal marketplace.

Meanwhile questions are being raised about the actual value of IT education, especially at primary level. Many of the "skills" students learn at school (mastering a mouse and keyboard, using the Internet, etc) they would pick up very quickly on a short course outside school - or even just by sitting down, whenever they actually need to, at one of today's user-friendly PCs and software packages.

It's a sort of chicken-and-egg situation. Which came first - the schools' need for computers, or the computers' need for schools?