Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In light of the information the Minister is not giving us, does he have any concerns about the viability of the company in question and its ability to meet the requirements of this important contract? Some time ago, when I raised concerns in this House with the Minister about this particular bidder, he pounced on me and lectured me about the quality of the consortium. At that stage, the Minister put much stock in SSE and the John Laing Group and their international reputations.

The Minister will need to reflect very seriously on this matter in light of what is about to emerge on the change in character of the bidder that has submitted its final tender. I understand the political expediency of getting a deal signed, but this contract is for 25 years. The Minister may be gone from office and I may be gone from this House, but I do not intend to be part of leaving a mess behind us that does not deliver the long promised broadband services to 540,000 premises. This has been promised since 2012 and nobody in that cohort of 540,000 is any closer to seeing broadband delivered. There is no start date for the first house and no end date for the last house.

There are now real questions about the viability of the bid. Eir, Vodafone, the ESB and SSE have pulled out and my information is that the John Laing Group has pulled out. Enet has moved from the front to the back of the line. If that does not raise very serious questions about the viability and capacity of the State to roll out this service, I do not know what does. The Minister is driving headlong into this and failing to do what I previously asked him to do, namely, take time out to reflect on whether it will be possible to do this based on the kinds of tendering processes put in place in the first instance.

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