Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

With respect to the Deputy, if he read the monthly reports that I publish on the progress of the national broadband plan, which I undertook to do in this House last autumn, he would see a considerable amount of work ongoing with the national broadband plan. There is hardly a day in the Department when we do not have consultation or work proceeding on the plan. I would be very happy to brief the Deputy separately and privately if he so wishes, or publicly here on another occasion, on the enormous amount of work ongoing with the national broadband plan. I am not one for fanfare or repeated announcements but I am one for ensuring the work will progress. I assure the Members that work is progressing.

The guiding principle for the state aid process is that any state intervention should limit, as much as possible, the risk of crowding out or replacing private investment, or altering commercial investment incentives and ultimately distorting competition. That is viewed as contrary to the common interest of the European Union.

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