Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that this is as transformative as rural electrification. My father worked for a while in the ESB on rural electrification. He was in Gorey, County Wexford, at the time and he saw the absolute transformative effect of it. I acknowledge that the Minister is trying to do that. He is new to the job and he has many other roles, such as dealing with climate change, post offices and so on. I wonder how post offices are going to thrive in the long run when everybody gets broadband and they can do everything online. That is for another day.

I wonder about the impact of newer technology coming on stream. I know people who rewired houses for CAT 5 cables, and wireless came along a couple of years later and they did not need it. I live in Dublin but as a Senator I represent the whole of the State. I know that people from Dublin go down the country and their children will want to use Wi-Fi when they are on holidays and want to be able to get their emails and so on. It is very important that we have national broadband but we are looking for value for money. I am concerned that the network could be sold on to somebody else, the profit share element of it. It seems that the wins go to the company and the risk rests with the Government. I was chairman of the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly when we discussed the issue of broadband in 2014, half the room was happy because they had broadband, half the room was crying out for broadband. In 2014 the thinking was that it was going to be rolled out within a year by the then Minister, Alex White.

We need broadband. I acknowledge the Minister's efforts but we are concerned about the cost of it, the risk share and the profit share. I thank the Minister for his very comprehensive statement. I wish him well, but I think there are valid concerns about the project.