Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While it is the Minister’s first opportunity to answer parliamentary questions in his new role, we have had plenty of engagement on this matter in other fora and in the House since his appointment. As he well knows, the national broadband plan has been talked about and promised since 2012. Previous Ministers have failed to give a strict timeline for it reaching certain milestones. The last commitment we received from the Government was when negotiations on the programme for Government were brought to a conclusion. When Independent Members and Fine Gael signed up to it, they spoke about an indicative date for the signing of the contract in June 2017. We know that did not happen. I am anxious that to some extent the Minister set in stone deadlines for the reaching of key milestones. At least then there would be some date on which others could be held to account. I know that previous Ministers were slow to do this because of the potential political fallout, but there has been significant political fallout from the project. It would be helpful to all sides, most particularly the Minister and the Government, if clear timelines and deadlines were set for the reaching of milestones in meeting the project plan. That would ensure all actors in the field would have something to work towards.

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