Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I came into the House with an open mind. I do not have evidence to question the integrity of former Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, but what the Taoiseach has revealed about private meetings between the former Minister and Mr. McCourt means there was no doubt but that he had to resign. It is somewhat shocking that it has taken until now to reveal that these meetings took place. Despite the fiasco regarding the rural broadband plan and the tendering process we are only now discovering that these meetings took place and that Minister of State, Deputy Breen, also attended those meetings, which means he also has very serious questions to answer. It is clear that the Enet bid is hopelessly compromised on the basis of these meetings and other issues that have been raised, with one part of the consortium being investigated in the context of the sale of Siteserv to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, and legal action being taken in the United States against another part of that consortium regarding its communications with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund while it was involved in negotiations with that body. The whole process is hopelessly compromised.

The Taoiseach stated that he is as committed to rural broadband as the State was to rural electrification. I put it to him that if rural electrification had been handled in the shambolic way in which rural broadband has been handled, we would still be reading by candlelight. The plan is a disaster. Rural electrification was provided through a State company. That is how we transformed this country. The shambolic process of privatisation, outsourcing and the inevitable problem of the relationships of private sector interests with the State has once again been revealed. We saw it revealed in the context of the Moriarty tribunal and in the relationship between Governments and IBRC. Incredibly, the more things change, the more things stay the same. We now see that again in the context of the national broadband plan. The Government has to go in order that these issues can be debated by the people.

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