Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to share two minutes of time each with Deputies Butler, Aylward, Murphy O'Mahony and Casey. I myself will keep a close eye on the clock.

I am glad to have the opportunity to make a few points on this issue. I am sorry the senior Minister is not present. I accept it is a long day. The Minister has a demanding media schedule being the comical or chemical Ali of the Cabinet, as he has been described by a national media organisation with the level of denial that is associated with his constant pronouncements in terms of the health of the broadband plan. I refer to the broadband plan, as christened by Mr. Peter Casey, a Donegal man of Claddagh Resources, when he correctly stated it should be changed to the Donegal shambles. That is what it is.

I do now know who are responsible for this process since 2013 but there are two words that accurately sum up those involved, and the first one begins with "G". At this point in time, we have no contracts in place. As Deputy Eamon Ryan states, we have no wires in place. We have endless amounts of brochures, photocalls, announcements, tours around the country and more announcements. We have Ministers looking good, Ministers who are now retired, Ministers who are now broadcasters, all responsible for announcing different plans. The reality is nothing happened. It is constant lip-service. It is similar to the draft national planning framework, which I think I will rename the plan to standstill, but we will see what is published as part of the real plan.

Will the Minister of State tell the senior Minister that what we want is a price, a delivery schedule and construction, commencement and finish dates? That is what the people require. Let him come back here in a month. My colleague, Deputy Dooley, rightly said we want to review this. That will take the Government ten years. We do not have time for that kind of a review. I therefore ask the Minister of State to give us, within a month, a start date and an indication of how much it will cost and when it will be finished. I have one little tip. The Government should get the providers to carry out the less lucrative work first. I refer to Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, Cavan and Monaghan. Perhaps then we will not have another Carillion on our hands or another Eir that will tell us it has already picked all the gold and will leave the silver and copper to someone else. I will hand over the floor to my colleagues now, but that is what needs to happen. There are three things we need to know within one month: when it is starting, who is doing it and how much it will cost.

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