Dáil debates

Thursday, 9 May 2019

National Broadband Plan: Statements

 

1:55 pm

Photo of Ruth CoppingerRuth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I want to clarify what this debate is about and what it is not about. It is not about making an argument against providing rural areas with broadband. Broadband is essential and it is scandalous that people have had to wait so long for what is now vital communications technology. The question we are debating is why the Government is striking such a rotten deal for the taxpayer and such a good deal for private companies. Yesterday we asked why it is not possible for the State to invest in and provide this service. The Minister acted as if these companies were doing the Irish population a really big favour and intimated that the State is not capable of doing this.

These companies will have the potential to price gouge in the future. The media coverage of this issue makes it clear that the bidder will have recouped by 2028 all of the cash it invested. The money that it invested will have to be recouped when it is operating the network. How will it do that? It will sell off the network to others who will price gouge people in rural areas in the future.

If one looks back at Eircom and Telecom Éireann, one sees a common thread. The Minister acted yesterday as if we got a great deal out of the privatisation of Telecom Éireann. I am very proud to say that in 1999, the only Deputy in this Dáil who stood up and spoke against that deal was Mr. Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party. I looked back at the transcript of a debate, during which former Deputy Higgins said:

It is a sad reflection that I am the only Deputy who stands in this Dáil in opposition to what will turn out to be a robbery of a vital State asset. The Minister and the Government are masterminding this robbery.

Now we are seeing a repetition of that. Another common thread is the involvement of companies connected with Mr. Denis O'Brien, including Actavo, as major investors. We warned in 1999 that privatisation would lead to a terrible underinvestment in infrastructure, and here we are now. We cannot provide a broadband service to people in rural areas for another seven years, potentially, because of underinvestment in this infrastructure over the years.

The ICTU report entitled Learning from the Eircom Debacle is so instructive. It outlines exactly what happened after Telecom Éireann was asset stripped in a deal done by Fianna Fáil, which cannot be relied upon today to provide this service either. In May 2001, the asset stripping commenced. In September 2001 the Government announced that it would fund 90% of any investment by the private sector in telecoms infrastructure. In November 2001, Eircom was bought by Valentia and was floated on the Stock Exchange. More debt was loaded onto its balance sheet and the mast network was sold off. In 2010, Eircom was sold to a state-owned company, Singapore Technologies. As the ICTU report points out, Eircom returned to state ownership, but unfortunately it was the state of Singapore. That is the reality of what happened. That company could have been owned by the State and could have been very profitable. It could have generated significant revenue and provided services at a very reasonable cost to ordinary consumers. Instead, vultures, millionaires and billionaires were allowed to benefit. The role of the Labour Party in this has not been exemplary, despite what Deputy Jan O'Sullivan said earlier. Mr. Dick Spring was appointed to the privatised Eircom board. Deputy Eamon Ryan said it was wonderful as well and some trade union leaders connected with the Labour Party were also big backers of privatisation, which is shameful.

What people in rural Ireland want is a broadband service, but this Government's ideological affinity with full-blown neoliberal capitalism underpins its belief that nothing can be provided directly by the State. Obviously housing cannot be provided thus and has been handed over, in the main, to private developers and landlords. Housing assistance payment is being paid to landlords and the State will not build public housing. Hence we have the suffering and misery that is taking place today. The same thing is being done with broadband. A tiny number of people are being enriched at the expense of the State. This deal has to stop but I have no faith that Fianna Fáil will stop it. That party needs to outline its position clearly. Is this an issue over which it will pull out of government?

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