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

We should always recall that the objective is to provide high-speed broadband to more than half a million homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland at the same speed and cost as for people in urban Ireland. That is an objective that all of us in this House share.

We should not forget that Eir took part in the process and made an initial bid for €2.7 billion, which was higher than the initial bid from Granahan McCourt, and then pulled out of the process, citing the fact that the risks were too high and the level of oversight too onerous, and refusing to make any commitment around the equity investment it would make. While the Deputy has been critical that the equity investment made by Granahan McCourt is too low, Eir was unwilling to commit to any equity investment whatsoever.

It is, therefore, a big turnaround that the company is now saying that it can do the project for €1 billion. If that is the case then I am all ears and we must listen to it. This morning, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment issued a letter to Eir, seeking further details and clarification about what it has said. We need to know whether this offer is real and stacks up, and what kind of delay would be imposed on people in rural Ireland waiting for broadband if we went back to a new procurement process. Everyone understands that neither a private nor a State company can just be given a contract; there would have to be a new procurement process. We also need to know that anything done would be within state aid rules and EU procurement law. A letter was issued today by the Department to Eir seeking that information.

Having listened to the contributions at yesterday's committee meeting, I think that as many questions were raised as answers were given. One thing we want to find out is how there can be such a difference between the €2.7 billion bid from Eir and this new offer of €1 billion. My concern, and that of the Department, is that rather than Eir making up the difference, a big part of it would be met by imposing higher connection charges and fees on those 500,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural areas than are imposed on those in urban Ireland. That would be a serious problem for us and would go against the original objectives I mentioned at the start of my reply.

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