Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has correctly identified the national broadband plan as a project on the scale and importance of rural electrification in the last century, but there is one clear difference. Rural electrification was and is in public ownership. This will be a much-valued asset. It is disappointing that the Government has not recognised the importance of keeping what will be a priceless asset in public ownership.

In the 1980s, the Government invested heavily in upgrading telecoms infrastructure, resulting in a network being built that surpassed Britain's or those on the Continent. I am glad that Fianna Fáil has come to a more Sinn Féin position on this, even if it is 26 years too late. They sold it off to venture capitalists. We have seen little investment in the past 26 years, with the result that the telecommunications network is now way behind our European competitors. The key difference is that we must have control of major infrastructure. The decision to hand broadband infrastructure to private capitalists is short-sighted in the extreme. The taxpayer and the State will have invested millions of euros, but it will be snapped up for profit.

I am sure we all agree that the national broadband plan has potential and is badly needed. We recognise that and we want to see this programme rolled out. It has significant potential to reinvigorate the whole island. In my constituency of Laois, and in south Kildare, places such as Borris-in-Ossory, Rathdowney, Portarlington, Graiguecullen and Monasterevin are all badly in need of this infrastructure. If we take MANs, when it was built, as I saw in my own town of Portlaoise, some people considered it as a white elephant. It has now developed across the country and is worth 20 times what it was when the infrastructure was put in. I have no doubt that this infrastructure, the rural broadband network, will be valuable also.

We have had a lot of talk of and a promise of new politics in this Dáil term. From what I am hearing, the Labour Party will do a U-turn as well and support Sinn Féin's position, so the majority of Members want this kept in public ownership. I want the Minister to go back to the Cabinet and have a chat. I heard the Minister trotting out the figures and the reasons, but he knows that is not the full picture. That is a debate for another day, to revisit this again and keep it in public ownership.

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