Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not the first to say that broadband is a basic utility in this day and age but, unfortunately, rural communities and some communities in north County Dublin are still waiting for connections. Yesterday, much attention was focused on the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Varadkar’s proposals on the so-called "right to ask to work from home" or, as my colleague, Deputy Louise O’Reilly, more accurately called it, "a charter for employers to say "No"". The question of rights aside, the sad fact is that many workers are not even in a position to ask to work from home because the Internet connection is so poor.Broadband infrastructure is of critical strategic importance not least for the fight against climate change. If we are to achieve the emissions reductions in transport that are essential, a decent broadband network is a prerequisite.

The figures from NBI do not inspire confidence. It was reported in the Business Postlast November that there were only 3,000 connections by third party sellers. We are waiting with bated breath to see the January connection figures. There was a target of 60,000 homes and business premises to be passed by the broadband scheme.It will be very telling for the effectiveness of the acceleration plans and catch-up on Covid delays. We are expecting a plan for that around March, although we accept it will not kick in until 2023 and beyond. We also expected the seven-year programme to be accelerated into a five-year programme, with all this laid out contractually in and around March. The fact that we will not make a reduced target is incredibly worrying, especially in combination with the reports from theBusiness Postand others, which have put into the public domain the serious questions that remain about the financial and corporate arrangements.

There are several operational problems faced currently such as the problems of Eir-NBI duplication and the fact that NBI is dependent on capacity within Eir, Enet and, to a lesser degree, ESB. There were difficulties in crossing lands owned by CIE, although those are largely dealt with. There were difficulties dealing with local authorities and TII. There were planning permission for poles and road opening licence delays and even issues with tree trimming. Updated section 254 guidelines have streamlined dealing with local authorities but there are still problems. NBI has said there is a requirement for dedicated planning and engineering resources in each local authority, particularly to deliver on any possible acceleration. The best case solution would be a planning permission system similar to the system on the north of the island.

On transparency, it is interesting to note the information NBI has made available online in that it is detailed and seems accurate from initial readings. However, it was only published on its website after it was reported in the media, therefore, any claims it is making about how it illustrates its commitment to transparency ring a little hollow.

There are also questions regarding NBI's contract. The Department was warned continuously that the procurement process for this contract was flawed. It was warned by the then Sinn Féin communications spokesperson, Deputy Stanley, by external firms, by procurement experts at University Limerick, and even by the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Robert Watt.

Commitments were given in the previous Dáil that if the company was behind schedule, the State would have ways of protecting itself in the form of penalties. Yet we learned last year that there are no penalties in the contract and there would be only delays to payment, which is hardly a penalty at all. We learned from the Committee on Public Accounts that the company can review and revise the targets. This crazy situation is coming after a litany of other overspends and poor management of Government contracts by Fine Gael.

I highlighted on the Order of Business just this morning the findings of the European Court of Auditors report, which highlighted the failure of the Irish State to avail of EU retrofitting funding. Again, that was under the remit of a Fine Gael Minister. We can see Fine Gael is very poor for major contracts. It is supposed to be the party of prudence yet we have massive delays and overruns across a variety of public projects. The children’s hospital is 500% over budget. Capital expenditure is set to increase over the coming years as a result of the revised national development plan, therefore, it is imperative as taxpayers we get good value for money under this Government. To that end, my colleague, Deputy Farrell, has introduced a Bill to regulate publicly procured capital works. If we are serious about getting value for money from the projects such as the national broadband plan and the ones outlined in the national development plan, there needs to be greater regulation of public procurement spending on capital projects. Deputy Farrell’s Bill is a first step on the road to better value from capital expenditure.