Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like others I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House for more statements on broadband, which is something that has been a common feature of this Oireachtas and the previous one. There is little doubt the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for high-speed broadband. The vision for it was set more than ten years ago. It has stood the test of time in that rolling out high-speed broadband to areas that would not normally be covered by the commercial sector is a policy position that has been taken by successive Governments. The Minister of State rightly identified that there has been very significant investment across the more densely-populated areas by commercial entities. They do so not for anything but to gain a return on their investment. That is healthy and how it should be and it is working well. If one is fortunate to live in one of those areas, which many people are, one benefits from reasonably good broadband access. It is not perfect because there is not fibre to the home in many cases and we need to encourage the commercial sector to continue with that. There are people who live in densely-populated areas not covered by the national broadband plan who still do not have a great Internet speed. We therefore need, through our policies and through the Department, to continue with that effort with the ultimate goal of having fibre to the home. Fibre to the cabinet is good in some areas but it is not enough.

I do not want to go back over what did or did not happen with the national broadband plan and the contract associated with it. The only comment I will make is the entire project should be seen as a doctoral thesis in how not to do something. I will leave it at that. I put plenty on the record of the relevant committee and of the other House during my time as spokesperson about this particular sector and how we got it wrong. We need to learn from it and move on. From the outset, I believed we should have done this by way of direct award. The competitive process was not the right way to go and the result has proven that. That is not to take from NBI, which is progressing the project, though not as fast as we would like. There is a steep learning curve and NBI is undergoing that at the moment. I felt from the outset we should have charged the ESB with responsibility and let it do this since it falls broadly within its field of competence. That did not happen and we are suffering and will suffer for a considerable amount of time into the future for the decisions that were taken. However, they have been taken and we must now work with NBI and its partners to try to move the project to a conclusion as quickly as possible. We can come in here and throw insults at each other but that would not serve anyone. We should work collectively to try to figure out how we make this happen more quickly.

There needs to be a greater level of co-ordination. I am aware that it was a policy position way back to try to bring together a commonality of approach at local authority level. I understand from NBI and others that there is still not uniformity with applying for licences, getting results and getting access to certain permissions and that acts as a delay. It is not the principle or primary delay but it is part of it. Some of the issues the Minister of State identified as delaying the process were foreseen by some of us and we flagged them at the time. NBI was probably gung-ho and rightly so, as that is needed. However, NBI needs to get more customer-focused. I have said that to the company as well. The only broadband-related question I get at my constituency offices and clinics is when. Some people still do not realise that it is a national contract and that it is not Eir anymore or is not SIRO or whatever company. It is now a State contract and there is company in place. They do not care about that and we get into great detail because we know how it is and how it is not. What people want to know is when. I appeal to the Minister of State to, insofar as he can, work with NBI to put in place a customer interface. It has a good one for people who are within six months of getting it. They can log on, see the area and know where it is at. However, it is different if it is going to be four or five years. Despite the fact the spin at the time was it would be done within five years, I always thought it would take seven. I suspect it will be longer given the issues and challenges that have arisen. Be that as it may, the one thing the vast majority of people want in life generally is certainty. With the level of roll-out experience NBI has at this stage, it should be in a position to give an indicative timeframe. You say to someone that they are going to be in year three. The person may try to find some kind of an interim fix using a wireless option of whatever but NBI should at least give them that certainty, insofar as it can. That is the piece missing at the minute. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said in the early stages of taking up office that the Government would look at trying to expedite the roll-out.Has there been any more around that? I understand National Broadband Ireland has signed up and has contractual arrangements. If there is more money required at this stage, or if there is something that the Government can do, either in policy or financial terms, that shortens that period of roll-out, then we should be looking at it. I go back to my opening comment; to some people, it would be nice to have it in the future as a lifestyle issue, for Netflix or for the kids to perhaps do a little bit of gaming or whatever. It is now as important as the phone line was at one stage and probably more important. To some extent, it was an overstatement when people say it would be as important as electricity; it now is, for most people. Whether it was kids trying to access education or doing the basic things, that is now so important. That is now a feature of life.

Even with the legislation that was published by the Government yesterday giving people a right to request the opportunity to work remotely, many people will be required to work remotely. To be sure, some companies need people in the office. However, many others are now looking at their office and property portfolios and are scaling back because they see a benefit to the employee and cost reductions from their own operational perspective. From now on, we will see people being employed on the basis that they will need to and have to work remotely. That becomes a real problem for those who live in areas with a relatively poor level of broadband.

People need certainty, and we should do anything that can be done to speed it up. We have been able to find money to resolve issues in the very recent past and we can do it here. We can work with local authorities and remove some of those impediments that are there.