Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To insert the following after "for the end-user to connect to the network":" - a guarantee that costs will not escalate over the course of the rollout of the NBP; and

- an alternative plan, encompassing the use of State infrastructure, is ready to be put forward in the event of the current procurement process failing."

I will be sharing time with Deputy Martin Kenny. The national broadband plan, NBP, is supposed to connect the remaining 542,000 households and businesses requiring high-speed broadband. Taking County Laois alone, there are 12,721 houses or premises left to be serviced, while in Offaly there are 12,420 left to be serviced. There are large areas in those counties that are not covered, including Banagher, Ferbane, Daingean, Rhode, Geashill, Kilcormac and Killeigh, along with many other places in Offaly. In Laois the areas not covered include Borris-in-Ossory, Ballaghmore, Ballinakill, Clonaslee, Rosenallis, Vicarstown, Ballylynan, Graigue and Crettyard. Almost 12,000 people commute from Laois to work every day and many of them do not need to do so. They have complained to me, saying that if they had services locally, they would not have to commute.

Seven years ago, the previous Fine Gael Government promised to roll out a national broadband plan and three years ago, the current Government committed to providing broadband "to every house and business in the country by 2020.". That commitment by this Government can never be met in the remaining 11 months to 2020. Will the process even begin by 2020, let alone finish? When will the contract be signed and when will the national broadband plan be rolled out and completed? People throughout the Twenty-six Counties are waiting. I gave the examples of Laois and Offaly but there are tens of thousands of people waiting for this.

In 2012, Sinn Féin proposed the use of State and semi-State infrastructure for this process but that suggestion was not taken up at the time. The delay arises because the Government turned to a privatised model and it is completely trapped by the process. The tender created by the Government - now with only one bidder - may also compromise future Governments and the taxpayer as costs spiral out of control over time. Will the Minister guarantee that the cost will not escalate? We are moving an amendment on that specific point. The Government has created a legal, financial and logistical nightmare. It is a mess, with a succession of delays, broken promises and inaction, and we have still not seen a shovel in the ground or a date for when the first home or business will be connected.

I have asked repeatedly, and I ask it again tonight, that if only one bidder remains in the process, and if the bidder is found incapable or unwilling to proceed, where is the plan B or where is the alternative for rural Ireland? In 2012 we proposed that the infrastructure that is already in place and State-owned should be used for the national broadband plan. In particular, we singled out the electricity infrastructure that is going to virtually every home and is being used to carry some fibre by the ESB. However, this was not considered. Along with the ESB lines was the State-owned metropolitan area network, MAN, which covers 94 towns. This has a network of fibre feeding the MAN that criss-crosses the State but again it was not considered. I can provide a map showing the cables running back and forth across the State. We have a web of fibre right across the country but the Government is trapped between two capitalist entities. Eir is privately owned, having been bought by a French millionaire, while the Granahan McCourt consortium is on the other side. Unfortunately, the taxpayer will pay the bill as it faces the prospect of subsidising the hanging of a cable on every pole. The taxpayer will have to pay a subsidy to Eir so those fibre cables can be hung on those poles. This amounts to an annual charge for our people. That will happen if the process involving the Granahan McCourt consortium is successful. Major financiers have withdrawn from the process and the current consortium is completely different from the consortium we started with. SSE Airtricity, John Laing Group plc and others have pulled out so we have the unbelievable position where the one remaining bidder is completely different from the original entity.

Two actions from the Government destroyed the national broadband plan and the cost will be borne by the taxpayer and particularly the 542,000 households and businesses still waiting for a service. The first was to rely on private industry to connect 840,000 premises and the second was the Government allowing Eir to cherry-pick the 300,000 households that were easiest to reach and the most commercially lucrative from those 840,000 premises. This ended the hope that any other bidders would participate. The Minister might say that the ESB pulled out but it had to do that once the 300,000 most lucrative premises were taken from the process. When the Minister addressed the Dáil he said the commercial or private sector stepped up to the plate and committed to delivering a service to those 300,000 premises. Eir did not step up to the plate but rather it grabbed the 300,000 premises that were easiest to reach, saying "thanks very much" and telling us to get somebody else to provide a connection to the other 540,000 premises, with the taxpayer subsidising that effort. I told the Minister's predecessor what would happen the day he made the announcement at a press conference in Government Buildings. I am sad to say it has come to pass.

What are the costs? We have heard figures of €1 billion and €3 billion but we have no idea of the cost and we cannot tell the people, so the taxpayer does not know either. One part of the amendment indicates that costs should not escalate over the period of rolling out broadband because only one bidder remains in the process. All of the power is in the hands of that one bidder. The Minister should not just take our word on this as Professor John FitzGerald commented on State contracts in general last year, indicating that if there is no queue of suppliers and bidders, there would be no saving for the State. There is no queue of companies waiting and the Government is trapped. The only way out of this is at a cost to the taxpayer, with continued delays for rural Ireland. The procurement process from the State was flawed and it is seriously banjaxed now. The Government has failed to outline a plan B and I ask again that it do so now. Will the Minister guarantee that the costs will not spiral out of control within the period of the plan? When will the contract be signed?

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