Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I agree that we need to be ambitious with regard to broadband. However, I question Fine Gael's proposal to spend €50 million of State money this year in a way that would threaten the private sector's expenditure of between €600 million and €700 million on alternative networks. Fine Gael wanted to give money to Babcock & Brown, but I am glad I made a different decision. If the Government had done so, that money would now be sitting in a bank account in Bondi or in Queensland, rather than being invested in Irish infrastructure, which is where it needs to go. We are delivering. We have doubled broadband numbers. Speeds are increasing through the competition we are bringing in between cable, fixed line and mobile companies. The Fine Gael proposal would stop that competition overnight.

We are making the necessary investment in water services. What is Fine Gael's position on getting money through water charges? It is unclear how it intends to fund its proposed investment in water services. Deputy Kenny recently failed to clarify what Fine Gael is suggesting it will do. This fundamental question of funding will arise if Fine Gael goes into government. Will Fine Gael be able to convince its possible coalition partners in an alternative Government - the Green Party, the Labour Party or Fianna Fáil - to agree to its proposal to sell off the commercial semi-State companies? If Deputies from the Labour Party get an opportunity to speak before the end of this debate, I would love to hear them answer that question. If it enters negotiations with Fine Gael, will the Labour Party insist that the ESB and Bord Gáis will not be sold? That proposal is as clear as day in Fine Gael's policy document - it is central to the whole funding arrangement. I do not believe it would be the right thing to do. In my experience, commercial semi-State companies work far better than some of the private equity companies on which other people rely. I look forward to hearing my Labour Party colleagues commenting on whether this project is a viable and flyable element of the NewERA package.

We need to bring confidence back to our country. We are doing it in our budgets. It is crucial for us to do it in the banking industry over the next month. I believe we can do it. We need to provide confidence and a stimulus on the economic and job creation fronts. We are doing that. We set out a clear plan in our smart economy document. We are now delivering on it. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has invested in the Exemplar network, which will deliver the sort of high-speed broadband infrastructure we need to attract businesses to this country. We are seeing the results of that in the investment in cloud computing. Microsoft is spending €500 million on the latest and most energy-efficient data centre. We will and can do it through projects like the green IFSC proposal, which was made by the green enterprise strategy group. The digital content services centre has the potential to provide tens of thousands of jobs and thereby turn this country around. It is already starting to happen. The digital hub is full. The young companies in the new IT area, in particular, are part of it. It needs to go beyond that. We need confidence in our farming and construction industries. It can be delivered by putting people back to work and making our buildings more energy efficient. We are delivering real jobs on the basis of sound policy. The NewERA document is not sound. I look forward to having a lengthy debate on the plan with Deputy Varadkar or any of the other Fine Gael Deputies. It deserves real consideration. When one considers the plan, it comes across as a bizarre and impossible venture.

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