Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I cannot believe what I am hearing. Is the Minister living in the real world? He is starting to believe the press releases from commercial operators who, in an effort to get some publicity for the services they are providing, invited him to cut the tape and he is coming in here, believing he had something to do with it. There was supposed to be a national broadband plan that required State intervention to provide services to 542,000 homes. The initial figure was 700,000. Eir has signed an agreement that effectively says that it will do that on a commercial basis. The Minister and the Department have had no role whatsoever. The Minister has quoted what Imagine and other commercial operators are doing but that is about as relevant as what is going on in Timbuktu with its broadband. The Minister has had no role in it and has done nothing to assist the 542,000 premises, whose occupants expected to have a service provided, supported and funded by the State. The Minister, by his efforts to shift responsibility to somebody else, is calling into question whether the Government is committed to supporting the provision of services to those 542,000 homes. By taking credit for the roll-out on a commercial basis, the Minister is hiding the fact that there are people that the Government has seemingly forgotten about. The Minister is more interested in telling us what other companies are doing in order to hide or mask what the State should be doing.

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