Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not asked why but was asked who and I am saying who. I am giving the facts. I agree with Deputies that it is great Deputy Coveney is the Minister. The Minister is charged with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, marine spatial planning and the regulation of the foreshore under the Foreshore Acts. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, also has a range of marine planning and environmental responsibilities, including around the freshwater area. These are from a planning perspective because most of the proposed legislation is planning Bills. This clarifies "the who"; we can tease out "the what" afterwards.

The Minister consults the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, and his Department because there is a lot of crossover there. We accept that. I understand there is confusion but I do not want to take away from Deputy Sherlock's work on this Bill. Great work has been put into the Bill in order for it to be put to the Dáil. I took the debate in the Seanad where we had this discussion. It is not that the Government is against the Bill - we were not against Senator Grace O'Sullivan's Bill - but I believe all my colleagues understand there is a process we must follow. We must go through a certain process or we will not be successful in this. We all want it to be successful, we want it to progress and we must do it the right way or it will not work. I believe that Deputy Sherlock understands this from his discussions with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and from the debate in the Chamber this morning.

On the issue of broadband, I want to put Deputy Timmy Dooley's fears to bed. Unlike previous Governments which had money and did not fix or tackle the issue - I am not referring to the last Fine Gael-Labour Party Government because we did not have the money at that time - this Government now has the resources and is intent on fixing it. The plan is being led by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, and by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys. It will happen. We will finally have the broadband we deserve in the State. Tenders will, hopefully, be processed within the year and work will commence in 2018. The roll-out will happen quite quickly after that. The Fine Gael-Labour Party Government would have liked to have done it but we did not have the resources because of what we were left with when we came into government during 2011. Trust me on this. For many years, this issue should have been tackled but previous Governments did not do so. Deputy Dooley knows that and should be ashamed of himself raising the issue. It was so important and it held the State back. This Government is going to deal with it. It will be put to bed once and for all, and rightly so. I hope this allays any concerns.

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