Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A mistake was made, not in this Dáil but in a previous Dáil, when it was decided to sell Telecom Éireann. I have always said we should own our own infrastructure.

I note that one official is with the Minister in the Chamber. He probably heard the same; that they were fed up of promises of private operators saying what they would do and that there was no more licences being given out. Six months later, Eir got the ripe apples off the tree and I think that was the fatal mistake that was made.

It is like three engines on a aeroplane. In any tender, if people fall off the wagon there is nothing anybody can do because they are the rules in the EU and so on. To be honest, Eir has picked the ripe apples. It is engaging in skullduggery in this country at the moment, abandoning houses up and down roads.

I would like the Minister to answer a few questions. Can we do without Eir's poles when we are going with this broadband? Can we use the ESB's poles? I think there will be a problem with Eir down the road from what I hear of the new owners. Will the Minister give a guarantee that by 2020 it will be sorted out? I know there are delays. It may cost more but if it solves the problem for 530,000 people across this country, we have to do that. We want shovels in the ground. We can look for heads but at the end of the day what we want is broadband for everybody.

I urge the Minister, Deputy Naughten, to talk to the Minister, Deputy Creed. At the moment, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is sending things out to farmers under the BPS, of which the Minister, Deputy Naughten, is well aware. It is looking for all farmers to go online. Given this fiasco and the delays, could the Minister, Deputy Naughten, ask the Minister, Deputy Creed, to hold off this year until farmers have proper broadband?

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