Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The Minister, Deputy Naughten, needs to have the support of all parties in this House in his efforts to deliver the national broadband plan. Success is not guaranteed, but I believe the process in which the Minister and the Government are engaged is the correct one. No major infrastructural plan of this nature will have a smooth passage. No plan like this will not hit a bump in the road. A bump on the road should not mean we deviate from the plan. Many speakers in this House are speaking as if the national broadband plan has already failed. It has not failed. It is still alive and kicking. I believe the Minister will deliver on it.

We all know the importance of broadband. When the Minister was in my constituency of Clare earlier today, he spoke about broadband and about the delivery of services that depend on broadband. He referred to the trading online voucher scheme, which enables companies to expand their websites to allow them to trade online, thereby increasing their sales and their workforce and developing their businesses and industries. He also spoke about eLocal, which is a new plan based on broadband that will allow people to buy locally and have their goods delivered locally by An Post. The Minister has outlined these plans in relation to broadband. I believe they show his commitment on delivering broadband to urban and rural Ireland.

The present situation is not what we would wish for. I know it is not what the Minister would wish for. That does not mean the plan has been abandoned, or so badly damaged that it cannot continue. That is not the case. We cannot depend on commercial enterprises to support national infrastructure if they do not wish to do so. This plan should not be thrown offline just because it might not help such enterprises to maximise their profits or does not suit their market forces. At present, we have a competitive bidding process that is continuing.

Fianna Fáil is proposing to stall the process to facilitate an additional review which could last for two months, six months or a year. Where will Fianna Fáil find the experts to advise on this reviewed process? The process already has international experts giving their expertise on how it should be managed.

Where will Fianna Fáil find new experts to give an alternative view? Should an alternative view be given, would that not open the process to litigation from those who have already opted out of the process if the terms and conditions of the broadband plan were to be changed? I do not see that reviewing and delaying is going to add anything to this process. We already have the experts we need and stalling the process is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Deputy Dooley talks about bringing a bullock to the fair and finding there is only one buyer. I think it is more serious when a solution is proposed that throws the baby out with the bathwater, leaving nothing to bring home, neither the money nor the bullock.

Rural Ireland needs to have broadband and should not languish endlessly without it. What Fianna Fáil is proposing would lead to that. What we need now is implementation and we have seen in so many parts of government that plans are produced but fail in the implementation process. We have seen it in our health service and are now seeing it in broadband. We have a process and should continue with it. We should implement it to the maximum and not continually review. We need broadband to 540,000 homes in Ireland. That is the reality of rural Ireland. It is probably going to be the last place broadband is going to be delivered but it must be delivered. The national broadband plan is the way this will satisfy rural Ireland. It is going to be slower than people had anticipated; it is always slower than people want. People in rural Ireland are crying out for broadband but to abandon the national broadband plan because it hits a bump is a very negative way to approach the subject.

If any Minister is going to deliver broadband, it will be Deputy Naughten. During the negotiations for a partnership Government, broadband was a key issue for all rural Deputies, from the Rural Independent Group to the Deputies who are here, to the Minister, Deputy Naughten himself. It was a key area of discussion. Deputy Naughten is the Minister who will deliver this and the broadband plan that he proposes is the method by which it will be delivered. The current state of affairs should be seen as a stimulus to the broadband plan rather than knocking it at every turn. It is concentrating people's minds and certainly has concentrated the mind of the Minister in respect of delivering on this programme. Perhaps that is very good because it has clarified and concentrated people's thinking on the matter.

The plan does lead to uncertainty and anxiety. I hear that every day in my constituency office as most of us do. People are uncertain as to how this programme is going to be delivered and when they see bidders dropping out they feel the process is flawed. It is the commercial interests of those who dropped out that are flawed, rather than the programme. The Minister, Deputy Naughten, should be given every support in delivering this plan. High-speed broadband has to be delivered to a dispersed population and the national broadband plan may be used as a template for other dispersed populations in other countries as a method of excellence on how a broadband plan can be delivered to a dispersed population.

This House should give the Minister every support and freedom to finish his job and should not place obstacles in his way when every bump is encountered.

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