Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak to the Minister's announcement today rather than to the motion because the motion attempts to address the need for broadband but does not provide any detail on the model that its proposers claim would be best used.

The Minister has claimed with some justification that the national broadband plan is on a par with the electrification scheme which the State undertook in its early days. It is odd then that while acknowledging the importance of the broadband infrastructure to the State, he simultaneously announced that the State proposes to hand it over in the future to private company ownership. If back in the day Deputy Naughten had been Minister and what is proposed in respect of this so-called commercial stimulus model or the privatisation plan had been done with the electrification scheme, citizens at whom this motion is directed, namely, citizens living in rural Ireland, would still be reading by candlelight and this Chamber would probably be using candlelight to illuminate our discussions.

We need to dismantle the myths that surround the Minister's announcement in regard to privatisation of this crucial State asset. The Minister has told us that the cost of the infrastructure will be cheaper and that the money saved will be used to invest in climate change, housing and other great projects, with initial investment estimated to be between €500 million to €600 million. We need to know in what areas the remainder of the money will be invested. We know from experience that this is nonsense. As in the case of past privatisations, public private partnerships have always cost the State more money in terms of the service delivered and the longer-term costs to the taxpayer and the Exchequer. There will be no saving. Instead, the State is guaranteeing the future profits of the private company that wins the bid. This deal, unlike some of the worst done in the past, is extraordinary in that the State will never own the asset. Under some public private partnerships we aspire to own the asset, as in the case of the M50 toll plaza or the numerous development projects that went belly up, such as O'Devaney Gardens and St. Michael's Estate. We still do not fully own the National Convention Centre and we are paying massive rent on it. All public private partnership projects end up costing us more in the long term. The expertise and privatisation of the State sector is essential to the infrastructure of this project. As such, the State must contribute a large amount towards it.

There has been much talk about the need for proper broadband provision over the next 20 years. I was delighted to hear Fianna Fáil call for the nationalisation of the infrastructure. However, as stated by a previous speaker, the current problem was caused by Fianna Fáil's decision to privatise Eircom which resulted in no investment in the national broadband plan and our infrastructure lagging behind that of most countries. Instead of investment in growth by a nationally owned and controlled telecommunications company, Eircom, as famously described by Fintan O'Toole, was passed around various vulture and equity funds like a joint at a student party, loading debt after debt on the company, thus ensuring it did not invest in the manner necessary.

I support the Sinn Féin amendment. I reject the idea that the Minister came up with today, namely, that we sell-off and privatise this essential State asset.

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