4th February 1998

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Two five year old cousins are to have a chat on Wednesday afternoon: one of them will be in Coleraine and the other in New Jersey. The latest in telecommunications will do the rest. It is believed to be the first time in Northern Ireland that primary school children have used video conferencing.

Pupils from Mill Strand Integrated Primary School in Portrush will travel to the University of Ulster's Coleraine campus to have a live satellite link-up with pupils from Sandman School in Cape May.

The link-up has been arranged as part of a project on communications for the Portrush children and for the American children who are learning about Ireland.

Among the Portrush children will be Sian Hankin-Philips. She has just found out that the class she will be talking to in the States will include her five year old cousin, Tomas Fala whose mother emigrated from Ireland seven years ago.

Tomas has visited Ireland several times and the pair are quite close given the distance between them. Sian is looking forward to Wednesday:

"It will be good to see Tomas. I will be able to talk to him and he can see my friends," she said.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk