Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is with some sadness that we heard today of the resignation of Deputy Denis Naughten. I have known Denis personally for quite a long time. I knew his late father, who was a Member of this House also. Obviously, it is a very difficult and sad day for the Deputy and his family and supporters.

That said, we did raise very legitimate issues over the rolling out of the national broadband plan, which was announced as far back as 2012. Precious little progress has been made. The tendering has been tortuously slow and the result is that many people have been deprived of broadband. More fundamentally, we raised yesterday a very basic question. The Taoiseach confirmed today in his remarks that Deputy Naughten, as Minister, would have been the ultimate decision-maker in terms of bringing a memo to the Cabinet with a view to having a decision made on the tender on the bid. That is the very point I made yesterday in this House, and I was attacked for making it. I made it in good faith. Officeholders and the decision-maker on such a substantial tender have to be insulated from any perception of favouritism or of being open to lobbying or being canvassed. That was the context of the dinner in the United States and of people's reservations and misgivings about it. The Taoiseach has now given the Dáil additional information on a further series of meetings with Mr. McCourt.

We continue to have very significant issues around the bidding process, not least being all the transactions that seem to have taken place, coincidentally, in terms of change of ownership.

There has been a fundamental change in the composition of the consortium. The original Enet bid and the make-up of that consortium do not bear any real or substantial resemblance to the final consortium that is now in play for the award of the tender. While there might have been a certain desperation on the part of the Government - I do not know the motivation behind it - to get some type of deal over the line given the delay, it is extremely important that we get it right and that what is happening here is proper. That is the fundamental point and the House must uphold it. That is and will continue to be our focus in the coming weeks.

I recall meeting the officials in the Department in the aftermath of the 2016 general election when we were all exercised about broadband. They were at pains to point out the sensitivity regarding this issue. They said they would be issuing the tender documents around that time. That is why many of us were flabbergasted that the Minister, the ultimate decision maker, would meet with a lead member of one of the consortia. Not only I but many people from different perspectives could not get our heads around that. It is a very difficult day personally for Deputy Denis Naughten, but given what the Taoiseach has said and in light of all that has now been revealed in terms of the series of private dinners and so forth, I believe he made the right decision. I do not know the reason or motivation but there are serious questions about this bidding and tendering process from our perspective, particularly the latter part of it. There was the exit of SIRO and Eir, it was down to one bidder, the composition of the bidder changed hands, people were selling shares and so forth. This does not sit well when one examines it, even if there may be explanations. There were new players coming in and other players leaving.

I only have five minutes and I appreciate the time. However, when members of the Opposition raise legitimate questions they should be listened to and perhaps answers could be given or there could be some effort to try to understand where people are coming from in trying to get to the bottom of these issues.

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