Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“recognises:

— the importance of the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP), which will bring high-speed broadband to every home and business in Ireland;

— the NBP will economically transform rural Ireland in the same way that rural electrification did in the last century;

— that the NBP is designed to ensure that the high-speed broadband network is futureproofed for advances in technology and increases in demand over the next 25 years;

and

— that the NBP is underpinned by:

— the Programme for a Partnership Government;

— the European Commission’s Europe 2020 Strategy - Digital Agenda for Europe;

— the National Digital Strategy;

— the Action Plan for Jobs;

— the Action Plan for Rural Development; and

— the Digital Strategy for Schools;

notes:

— the appointment, through a public procurement process, of a team of circa 80 national and international experts in procurement, finance, funding, network design, project management, technical specialists and commercial and financial analysts, as well as legal specialists and support staff to support the development of the NBP contract;

— the governance arrangements in place for the procurement process, including a separate Steering Group and Procurement Board which also include national and international experts;

— that ComReg, the statutory body responsible for the regulation of the electronic communication sector, sits as an observer on the Steering Group;

— that the final proposed subsidy is reviewed from a value for money perspective by the National Development Finance Agency against the project budget;

— that the NBP programme is subject to the Public Spending Code;

— that Government agreement will be required before a contract can be awarded and a final subsidy agreed; and

— that expenditure incurred under the NBP is subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General;

considers:

— that stalling the NBP procurement process to undertake a review would delay the award of the NBP contract and of the deployment of broadband infrastructure by a minimum of six months, to allow time for procurement of experts and to carry out a meaningful review;

— the strong governance framework in place for the NBP procurement process;

— that the NBP procurement process is about to enter the final stages and the remaining bidding consortium in the procurement process has reaffirmed its commitment to the successful conclusion of that process; and

— the significant uncertainty that would be created by embarking on an unnecessary review at this late stage of the procurement process could undermine and collapse that procurement process; and

calls on the Government to continue apace with the public procurement process to select a company to build a future-proofed high-speed broadband network in those areas which will not be served by commercial operators, to ensure that every place name, in every county in Ireland is put on the digital map.”

I will come back to Deputy Fitzmaurice on his points, which are very fair.

The national broadband plan will put every place name, in every county, on the digital map. Delivering high-speed broadband to every home, every business, every farm and every school in Ireland is a personal commitment from me. I have continuously said that I would not allow this process to continue one minute longer than was absolutely necessary in order to deliver a future-proofed broadband network for every single place name in rural Ireland. I am the only Deputy who has consistently pursued this issue for the last two decades in this House and the record proves that fact. Just as roads were built, and then electricity supplied, the Government is determined that broadband will be delivered. It will leave a lasting legacy across rural Ireland.

The Government cannot accept Fianna Fáil's motion on a number of levels. The motion calls for a review of the procurement process to examine several aspects of the tender, including the degree to which it is "inhibiting the participation of suitable bidders”. This suggests the remaining bidder, the consortium comprising of enet, sse, Granahan McCourt and John Laing plc is not a suitable bidder.

See this speech in context