Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are people who would love to watch the debate online at home, at their business or on their computer today but they cannot because their Internet speed cannot support streaming. That is the reality in 2019 but it is entirely unacceptable. It is despite all the lofty rhetoric, cast-iron promises, the debates going back to 2011 and the long-held concerns about costs, bidders and tendering processes. The Minister spoke about not being able simply to gift the tender to a State utility but the irony is that under Fine Gael, a suspicious gift that is shrouded in concern has been given to a venture capitalist in New York, which all the reports have underpinned, even though it could have given it to a public utility. Hundreds of thousands of homes throughout the country have nothing but there have been dozens of consultants’ reports, even more unminuted meetings, a ministerial resignation, countless missed deadlines and overspending on a level matched only by the national children’s hospital. The net result is no proper broadband service and a deeply held distrust that the Government will finally deliver for rural Ireland. Fianna Fáil will support the Labour Party's motion.

The report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment is important work that clearly highlights the utter failure of the Government and its predecessor to deliver on broadband. In addition to the motion, which emanated from the committee’s report, it is important to note some of the other important findings not mentioned. They include an external independent review on whether the current proposals and the costs of the national broadband plan are the only viable option at this stage; the need for a new cost-benefit analysis; and an update on the Smyth review, which examined a raft of issues with the national broadband plan. Considerable information has come to light since the review. The committee’s report also called for the update to be given within a month of its publication in August. Like the people in rural Ireland, still we wait. Likewise, we are still waiting for action from the Minister following motions tabled by Fianna Fáil regarding the plan .

We have all lost count of the number of promises we have heard in respect of broadband. In 2011, we were told high-speed connectivity would be rolled out to 90% of homes and businesses by 2015 but a year later, it was to be 100% of homes and businesses by 2020. In 2016, there was another commitment, this time that 85% of the country would be covered by 2018. Most recently, we have been told a contract will be signed by Christmas. After so many promises, it seems the people of rural Ireland are not the only ones who are sceptical and running out of patience. The private sector, too, no longer believes the Government. Imagine has announced plans to cover 234,000 of the 540,000 premises in the intervention area, while Eir has announced plans for 80,000 premises. The Government intends to allow National Broadband Ireland, NBI, to lay fibre in the same spots, which means the Government will pay Granahan McCourt to overbuild past 300,000 homes where fibre already has been laid by commercial operators. Whatever about the inherent lack of wisdom of that decision, it will have clear state aid consequences the Government has ignored and that it contradicted in its argument in response to the motion. As it stands, NBI will provide just €220 million, comprising €175 million in equity and €45 million in working capital, for a project that will cost €3 billion to deliver. Despite claims to the contrary, the State holds all the risk. NBI can afford to walk away within a decade and will recoup its money within seven or eight years, carry little risk thereafter and retain full ownership.

As the communications committee found, there is no justification for the resulting network to be owned by the minority investor instead of the majority investor. When the Government has previously spoken about ownership of the network, it stated it was merely a wire on somebody else’s pole and some brackets. It is far more than that. The Oireachtas committee indicated it would be worth approximately €500 million to the consortium. It concerns potentially 400,000 wholesale customers, jobs in rural Ireland and is the result of massive investment on the part of the State. Fianna Fáil recognises the strategic value of broadband in areas commercial operators will never cover and that the network should be retained.

I will conclude with the stark warnings from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which must be heeded. I implore the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to have a word with his colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, whose Department is worried about a raft of aspects of the plan, including cost, affordability, value for money and risk. Officials from that Department have labelled the cost-benefit analysis on which the Government has based its decision as “not credible". The protracted history of the national broadband plan is a case study of the Government ignoring clear warning signs. It appears the warnings of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, too, have been ignored.

Perhaps the best indicator of how likely it is the Government will deliver the national broadband plan is the funds that have been made available, and how much are needed. To date, the funds required to deliver the national broadband plan have not been set aside. An additional €1.3 billion must be found in the coming years, over and above the €800 million allocated for the plan. Despite the promises, the Government has not done that. It is bizarre that it claims that the roll-out will soon begin, given that the necessary funds have not even been put aside. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, must urgently clarify the Government’s plans to fund the contract he intends to sign.

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