David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: “accepts the Report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment entitled ‘Report on an investigation to examine the National Broadband Plan process thus far and how best to proceed and the best means to roll-out rural broadband’;

notes that:

— high speed broadband is a vital piece of public infrastructure for rural towns and communities;

— the National Broadband Plan (NBP) is fatally flawed;

— KPMG, in recommending that the private sector design, build, operate and own the infrastructure, stated that this would be the least expensive option and would rank highest on deliverability of objectives, however, this recommendation has utterly failed in that regard;

— a fundamental weakness in the process was the decision to continue with the private sector ‘design, build, operate and own’ model with one bidder;

— the private sector risk in the NBP project is practically non-existent, undermining the rationale for the design of the tender;

— every bidder that has direct experience of building networks and providing broadband services has walked away from the NBP;

— the previous Fine Gael - Labour coalition Government fully endorsed this fundamentally flawed process;

— a State-led approach is a realistic option for the roll-out of rural broadband, were the present process to be scrapped;

— the use of Electricity Supply Board (ESB) infrastructure remains a credible option for the delivery of the NBP;

— high speed broadband in our rural towns, villages and communities is absolutely necessary in order to halt the decline of rural Ireland; and

— there is no justification for the network developed under the NBP to be owned by the minority private investor instead of the majority public investor; and

calls on the Government to:

— accept that the State must now intervene in the NBP and deliver for our rural towns, villages and communities;

— re-engage with the ESB as a matter of urgency to examine the best model for delivery of a new NBP through the ESB infrastructure; and

— accept that all infrastructure developed through the NBP must remain in public ownership.”

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