Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The national broadband plan is the Government's plan to provide high-speed broadband to every home, farm and business in the country. It will be the biggest investment in rural Ireland ever and I believe that in time it will be seen to be as significant as rural electrification was decades ago, allowing people in all parts of Ireland to access public services online and trade in the digital economy.

Since this Government of Fine Gael and Independents came to office, just over two years ago, the number of homes, farms and businesses connected to broadband has increased from 52% to over 75%. My aim is to get to 100%. Therefore, the overriding concern for me as Taoiseach and for the Government is to provide this infrastructure to the 540,000 homes, housing over 1 million people who have been waiting for it for far too long. This is my only interest when it comes to this matter.

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to put on the record of the Dáil that I met Mr. David McCourt on one occasion last March in the United States at a public event with the media present when I presented him with the SFI St. Patrick's Day Science Medal. This was reported in the media at the time. We did not discuss the national broadband programme.

Yesterday evening, I sought a meeting with the former Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, at which I asked him to outline to me his interactions with Mr. David McCourt. I was satisfied with the explanations he gave. He subsequently contacted me, by telephone, shortly before midnight last night to inform me he had just remembered that he had a private dinner with Mr. McCourt in Mr. McCourt's home in 2017. This was organised by the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Breen, who was also present. Deputy Naughten suggested that, in order to protect the national broadband plan project, he be reshuffled to another Ministry or that responsibility for broadband be assigned to another Minister. I said that I would reflect on that overnight and meet him in the morning.

I met Deputy Naughten this morning and during the meeting he informed me that he had at least three other private dinners with Mr. McCourt. There were no officials present and there are no minutes. He had not informed me of these additional meetings, either when we met yesterday or when we met last night.

I have no doubt that his intentions were honourable at all points but I do believe he left himself open to allegations of a conflict of interest and an inappropriate relationship with Mr. Mc McCourt, which could have in turn brought the process into question, thus potentially jeopardising the project in its entirety. Ultimately, as Minister he had a decision-making role and it would have been his responsibility to bring to the Cabinet the memo to gain the approval of the Government for the awarding of any contract. As a result of this, I asked him to reflect on his position. He asked that he be allowed to explain his position to the Dáil, to which I agreed. I have since received his resignation in writing and I have accepted it.

I am assigning the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, on a temporary basis to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

I have sought a report from Mr. Peter Smyth, the independent process auditor for the national broadband programme, in order to assess whether or not the process has been compromised.

I deeply regret that these events have happened but I believe that, in resigning, Denis has acted in the public interest. I am determined to see the national broadband plan through to completion.

Sometimes there are days when I have to make decisions that may cause deep personal distress to others but are necessary for the good of the country. Today is one of those days. I have known Denis for over 20 years. We were in Young Fine Gael together and I have had nothing but respect for him as a person and a politician. I know today is a difficult day for Denis and those close to him. However, my job as Taoiseach must always be to put the public interest first.

I thank the House for its patience and understanding regarding this unexpected turn of events today.

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