Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by examining some of the Minister's speech to the House tonight. This debate is a continuation of the one on the Fianna Fáil Private Members' motion that was before the House last night. If I read the political landscape correctly that the Opposition will support the motion, then I do not see why we could not have a short, sharp review. The Minister's response to that was inadequate in saying that it would delay the process inordinately. I do not think anyone here buys that response as there is huge scepticism about the manner in which this process has been handled.

I refer to the Minister's speech tonight. He said: "My Department had no involvement in the selection of premises for inclusion in this commercial roll-out and that was entirely a decision for Eir as it would be for any commercial company". He is referring to the 300,000 connections that were to be rolled out which were beyond the State intervention. Given Eir's form, having been through seven take-overs and been asset-stripped, I do not know if I would believe the Rosary out of its mouth, as someone put it to me last week, on the matter. For the Minister to come in and say he had a commitment agreement in respect of the 300,000 without placing a copy of that commitment before the House beggars belief.

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