Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am going to use my time anyway, that is for sure. The Minister outlined the problems with the broadband scheme from the very first day when he allowed Eircom to go off and do its own thing. That is the crux of the problem. Eircom did nothing for years in terms of rolling out broadband for its customers and when it saw there was interest from other parties, it rolled it out to a last few. It took anything of value out of the project altogether and that is why the Minister has ended up with only one bidder.

I cannot understand how the Minister could meet David McCourt when the bidding process was ongoing. It is crazy. It is completely senseless. It shows the links business people have to the Government. Members of Parliament cannot get to meet the Minister but he will meet members of consortia and discuss the process with them.

The questions that have been asked already are very important and must be answered. The problems with the national broadband scheme date back to long before this issue arose. This is just another step along the road of what has been a very bad project overall. The Minister should have done it long before now but it is time for the Government to take over the project and to provide the infrastructure itself.

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