Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

This question relates to the roll-out of the national broadband plan, NBP. I have particular questions that flow from the earlier exchanges, which I will perhaps put in the form of supplementary questions. The more general question I have is whether the Minister accepts that the farce of a process, which has effectively seen a bidder, a US venture capitalist, win on the basis of everybody else dropping out of the race, illustrates precisely the problem of relying on the private market to provide for a public utility. Would we not be better off looking at the history of the roll-out of, for example, electricity, telecommunications, etc., and the key role of the State in providing a vital public service?

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