Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There appears to be another crisis with the roll-out of broadband. Listening to the radio this morning, I heard the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, discussing the "he said, she said" aspects of Eir and his Department in regard to the national broadband plan. From a layperson's point of view, Eir is the right body to roll out fibre broadband to rural households on the basis that it owns much of the infrastructure and it could do so at a lesser cost. The Taoiseach stated in the Dáil that he is all ears in regard to saving the taxpayer €2 billion. There is no clear direction or leadership on this issue. Fianna Fáil has always said that the tendering process is flawed and this development shows that it is. Eir has said that from the get-go and it was not listened to. We need to have a debate in this House on where we are going with broadband.

The second issue I want to raise is in regard to Dublin Bay. Not many people know that Dublin Bay is a UNESCO biosphere site. Approximately 300,000 live along the bay. However, in recent months many of our beaches have been closed to swimmers because of pollution and spillages at the Ringsend wastewater treatment site. We need to discuss how our bays are treated and the reasons for the closure of our beaches every second week, in particular during periods of hot weather when children will want to go swimming. I hope nobody will become ill as a result of the pollution in the bay. We need to discuss what we can do to prevent further accidental spillages into the bay in future.

I commend the National Transport Authority, NTA, on the opening this week of tendering for a national cycle office to design and monitor cycling infrastructure in our cities. I also commend the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, on meeting Bord na Móna to discuss the supply of medicinal cannabis. Bord na Móna has huge infrastructure and land and there are jobs at risk in the company. That the Government is collaborating with Bord na Móna in this novel way is heartening. I know that talks are in the early stages but I hope they continue because we have committed to supplying medicinal cannabis, which has been an issue in the past. The meeting between the Minister and Bord na Móna is a positive step.