Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's comparison with the electrification of the country is interesting, because I made it in the committee when this was being debated during the previous Dáil. A former Minister had to resign from his position because of an alleged scandal around it.

The key difference is the one he just quoted, which is that we did not rely on private, competitive, for-profit enterprise to electrify this country. The State built a State-owned, State-run company called the ESB, which built Ardnacrusha and Table Mountain and turned the lights on up and down this country. If we were waiting for this kind of model, we would all be still sitting in the dark and this Chamber would be lit by candles. That is my point about the broadband plan. I have asked how the Minister of State can stand over it and he still has not answered. It is disgraceful that he is not answering me and explaining how a Green Party Minister can stand over this rip-off of taxpayer's money where, at the end of the process, we will still not own the infrastructure. I ask him to please address that point.

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