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

Regarding the national broadband plan, the tender prices are in from the last remaining bidder. They have been evaluated by two external parties - an expert panel involving international expertise and an outside consulting firm - and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, which is the promoting Department. We are not yet in a position to appoint a preferred bidder, which is the next step. After that we will be signing the contract. There is still some due diligence to be completed and there are some decisions to make.

My understanding of the project and tender is that it involves fibre to the home in 95% of cases but the company is given flexibility to use alternative technologies for the final 5% once a minimum speed of 30 Mbps is provided. I may be wrong in that regard, but that is my recollection. That has been in the specifications since the very start of the process. As people have asked whether the tender will be reviewed, it is important to recognise that it is very different from that for the national children's hospital. The national children's hospital is a two-phase build contract. This will be a single-phase tender. We will know if and when we sign it what will be the final cost and possible contingencies. Unlike the national children's hospital, it is a public private partnership, PPP, with the cost spread over 30 years. The private company which will form part of the PPP along with the Government must invest in the project. It is a very different contract from that for the national children's hospital for those two reasons.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of the cost of living. Obviously, energy costs are not under the direct control of Government. Rather, they relate to prices on international fuel and energy markets. However, the Government has not taken any action which would increase energy prices. The prices have fluctuated with the markets, as they often do. The policy of the Government, working with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, is to increase competition in the sector in order to reduce prices.

The Deputy also referred to childcare costs. Much has been done in that area. Early childhood education has been extended to two years for all children. Maternity benefit has been increased and will increase further in March. Paternity benefit was introduced for the first time and has been availed of by 50,000 fathers. It will increase further in March. An additional two weeks of paid parental leave will be introduced later this year. In addition, various actions have been taken to reduce the cost of childcare and will culminate in the affordable childcare scheme which will kick in towards the end of the year. Childcare subsidies have been increased and extended to more parents. In October or November, subsidies will be increased and approximately 10,000 or 20,000 middle income families will qualify for subsidies for the first time. For example, dual income couples earning up to €100,000 per annum will qualify for subsidies for the first time.

I do not accept that there is a black hole in the national development plan or Project Ireland 2040. It is a ten year funding plan to which €116 billion has been allocated. There is contingency within that €116 billion, albeit in the later years of the plan. We anticipate being able to manage within the €116 billion over ten years. We have not increased the ceiling of €7.3 billion for this year. There is an opportunity to change some of the projects from direct capital projects to PPPs, thus changing the spending profile. Although very few PPPs were initially envisaged, having PPPs in some areas would spread the cost of those projects over a period of 20 years or 30 years rather than ten, thus freeing up money which could then be allocated to projects where there are overruns.

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