Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I want to correct the wording of the matter I have raised. I should have said I wished to raise the abandonment of the digital hub by the developer. Unfortunately, the anchor tenant has left. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter. I do so because the digital hub project was supposed to deliver heavily in the area in which it is located. The project was announced with aplomb amid great expectation and the Taoiseach took a significant interest in it. However, the project is two years behind target, like many others, and the anchor tenant has left, although a replacement is being sought. An attempt was made to use the public private partnership model for this project but it failed and agreement has not been reached between the public and private sectors regarding the delivery of the development.

The project is located on a nine-acre site, of which only two acres have been developed. I am concerned because we have had the debacles of electronic voting, which cost more than €50 million, the Red Cow roundabout, which also cost a significant sum, and the port tunnel, which can only accommodate small trucks. I do not want a scenario to develop whereby the digital hub, another flagship project, runs into trouble because expectations are not being realised and targets are not being met. The original plan was not workable or was badly thought out, or it is not meeting expectations for one reason or another.

I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources for coming in to reply to the debate. I ask that an urgent reassessment of the project be undertaken with a view to reassuring the local community and the tenants on site of the future of the project and ensuring all delays are short-circuited. If that is not done as a matter of urgency, the danger is public confidence in the project will erode and therein lies another potentially sad tale.

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