Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps I could comment further before Deputy Colreavy makes his decision on the amendment. Like Deputy Coffey I understand from where the Deputy is coming but there is a bigger picture here. As stated by Deputy Coffey, by definition the work concerned is relatively skilled. The big prize at the end of the project is connectivity for parts of rural Ireland. There will not be connectivity for every part of rural Ireland because the joint venture will be a commercial operation. However, it will for the first time enable fibre connection to homes in rural parts of Ireland that up to now has been unheard of. The Deputy's main concern is job creation. The availability of high quality broadband offers the prospect of dispersing employment to parts of rural Ireland. That is the prize at the end of this. Any contractors engaged in this project will be contractors with prescribed skills. Much of the physical work will and must be done by ESB direct employees. Where skills are required, they are specialist skills which could not necessarily be met by, say, the first 100 people on the top of a list at a local employment exchange. Hopefully, as a result of our doing this, there will be people taken off the live register in many provincial towns in Ireland.