Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish I shared Senator Coffey's confidence. I spent yesterday in Mayo and I could not do something as simple as send an email all day. The truth is that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed people in the context of broadband. The facts speak for themselves.

We have announcement fatigue. In 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, under Fianna Fáil, and right through the Fine Gael Governments up to today, the fact is that promises have not been delivered upon year after year. Fianna Fáil's motion on broadband was passed in the Dáil last week, but I was surprised that it placed such emphasis on the dangers of privatisation. The dangers associated with the privatisation of telecommunications became a reality in 2000 when one of the key pieces of state-wide infrastructure, Telecom Éireann, was privatised. That was done under a Fianna Fáil Government and it was the start of the rot. It is as simple as that. That is factual. From then on, any planned expansion of the communications network or necessary upgrade work was at the mercy of shareholders and at the whim of the markets. If Fianna Fáil is so good at doing business now, perhaps it would go out and beg the French billionaire who now owns our vital infrastructure to give it back. The ownership of that infrastructure has gone right around the world. We knew we were going to lose control of it but to sell, at that vital time, our country's main telecommunications system was bizarre in the extreme. If I live to be 120, I will never be able to figure that one out.

Sinn Féin has repeatedly warned the Government about fundamental flaws in the procurement system it has been operating and about its determination to hand over control of this project to private interests. There is a chance to roll back on this now, however. The Sinn Féin amendment to the Dáil motion last week called for the remainder of the roll-out of broadband to be placed in State ownership. We also want to explore the feasibility of using existing State infrastructure held by the ESB for the future roll-out of broadband. Has the Minister of State considered using the gas pipelines, the railways and the backhaul lines serving the metropolitan area networks as possible infrastructure which could be used in the remaining roll-out of the national broadband plan?

Where does the process stand now? We hear announcements regarding the levels of coverage from time to time, but the fact is that the roll-out has only benefited commercial premises so far. We are still at the mercy of commercial entities as to whether we get this vital service. In the absence of the roll-out of the national broadband plan, 61% of farms are outside existing high-speed coverage areas, 437 schools are relying on slow connections and broadband black spots are present in 96% of the land mass of the State.

Those of us who are members of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach spent the earlier part of this afternoon with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe,who told us all about eGovernment and the plans in that regard. Those plans are absolutely not compatible with the reality. It will lead to large part of the country becoming marginalised. We heard from representatives of the banking sector last week who stated that 21% of people do not or cannot do online banking. Very vulnerable communities are being marginalised and we really need to take notice of that. I am of the view that eGovernment should be put on hold until we have proper broadband to ensure that it is inclusive and is not socially and economically excluding vast areas and vast numbers of citizens within the country. In Mayo, the withdrawal of Eir means that 37,046 premises, which are in the AMBER premises intervention sector, are now in complete limbo. This is in a county where one cannot rely on regular, uninterrupted access to high-speed broadband. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for people living in the areas affected. We wait and wait and promises are made, but we are absolutely sick of it at this stage.

The reason we agreed with the call for a review of the entire plan is that we genuinely think that there are Ministers in Government who are not aware of the dire circumstances that we are now left in. Are there any guarantees in place for these premises, given that the Government is effectively no longer in control of the bidding process, which now has only one bidder involved? I am afraid that in the desperate rush to save the plan, the Government is prepared to settle for a lesser overall plan. Are there any plans to require all future providers of broadband, including anything that emerges from the wreckage of the current process, to ensure minimum connection speeds? It is not good enough to simply connect people if they cannot then download and upload what they need. For every week and month that an area is without a broadband connection, especially in the rural areas, there are countless business and employment opportunities missed. We are haemorrhaging job opportunities because we do not have broadband. That applies to people who are moving back to rural communities from abroad or people who are interested in setting up new businesses.

At its meeting earlier today, the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach was informed that there are plans to greatly increase the digitisation of State services, such as those, for example, relating to passport renewal. How will this interruption to the roll-out of the national broadband plan affect the planned digitisation of even more State services? Has the Minister of State considered enhancing the role of local post offices, which could act as points of first connection to high-speed broadband? I really believe that a post office with high-speed broadband could offer more State services and act as a local roll-out point and a hub for the future. It would also ensure the sustainability of post offices going forward. We should be considering a measure such as that.