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

There is no electioneering going on when it comes to this decision. No matter when we would have made the announcement on the preferred bidder, we would have been accused of either electioneering or trying to bury it until after the forthcoming elections. The Deputy knows as well as I do that if we had put off the decision to appoint a preferred bidder until next month, he would have turned around and said this was a controversial project, the Government hid it until the local elections and only came out with it after them. It is more politics from the Deputy’s side when it comes to allegations about the timing.

I take seriously any reasoned or considered concerns that anybody in the Opposition might have about this project. I had reasoned and considered concerns as well. That is why when the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, was appointed in October, I asked him to look at the whole process afresh to see if it was the right technology, as well as the best funding and financial model to use. I asked him to satisfy himself that this was the case and that the alternatives were not better. I wanted to satisfy myself that was the case as well, as did the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, and the Cabinet. We took some months and detailed consideration to do exactly that, taking into account all of the advice from different Departments, as well as independent advice.

All I am asking Deputy Micheál Martin and his party, along with the other Opposition parties, is not to rush to a conclusion on this, to keep open the possibility that they might be willing to support this, having heard the answers to the questions they asked, and consider whether the alternatives put forward are deliverable. I repeat that request to the Opposition again today.

I would welcome hearings at the Oireachtas joint committee. I would have no objection to that whatsoever. I just believe we should ensure there is reasonable timeframe around them and the terms of reference are agreed by the major parties.

The Government has been transparent about this. We have released the advice from officials in the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Communications, Climate Action and Environment. We have released all the documents and independent analyses from different companies such as Analysys Mason, PwC and KPMG. There is also advice from officials from my Department in favour of this project. Usually, this material would come out later on, perhaps on foot of freedom of information requests and in a drip-drip manner. We took a deliberate decision to release all material which would be released early because we want to be transparent about this.

The Deputy is correct that this is taxpayers’ money. The value of this project, however, should not be forgotten. About half the money for this project is taxpayers’ money while the other half will come from investments from the bidder, commercial revenues and other sources and borrowings. This is taxpayers’ money well spent. It will end the digital divide between rural and urban Ireland. This is a digital divide which is widening and one which we will never close if we do not go ahead with this project. It will connect 1.1 million homes in every county. The Deputy is right to focus on the costs but he should not turn a blind eye to the benefits either.

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