FG members disappointed with proposed Broadband delay

Fine Gael members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment voted today to reject recommendations contained in an Oireachtas Committee report.

Commenting on the matter, Senator Tim Lombard, a committee member said:

“The National Broadband Plan has been reviewed continuously for four months now.

“This committee has sat since May reviewing the National Broadband Plan. The committee heard from numerous witnesses including hours of testimony from the Department of Communications, from Comreg, from the ESB and from others. The Department published 1,300 pages of expert analysis which examined every part of the broadband plan from technology choice to cost to ownership. No new information will be available in 6 months’ time that is not available today. The main recommendation of the committee that is reviewing the broadband plan can’t be to take no decision and commission another set of reviews which will delay the signing of the contract.

“This project has been conducted under a procurement process which had detailed due diligence, with independent outside expertise, stress testing the costings, the capability, the risk management and the quality of service in a systematic manner.

“The decision regarding ownership has been made. A change could not be made at this stage without re-running the whole procurement process, which could take up to 5 years.

“The committee has got consistent advice that a state contract such as the national broadband plan could not be given to the ESB without a procurement process taking place. That is also the advice that the European Commission and the Attorney General has provided to government. Indeed, the ESB were not interested in taking part in the NBP when they appeared before the committee.

“At the end of 25 or 35 years, the main asset of National Broadband Ireland will be fibre wires sitting on top of rented poles. After 25 or 35 Irish winters, it is likely that a significant fibre replacement programme could be needed. So far from being an asset, it could mean that the state would be on the hook to subsidize broadband provision for years to come, rather than have a company that can stand on its own two feet at the end of the contract.

“There is now a choice to be made. Either we sign the contract and commence the roll out of high speed broadband to 500,000 premises and one million people or we don’t. It’s as simple as that. If we don’t sign this contract, then the only option is to go back to the drawing board. The committee was told that to start the process again could take up to 5 years. That would only bring us back to where we are today.

“I am not willing to accept this sort of delay for rural Ireland.”

Senator Joe O’Reilly, also a committee member said:

“The National Broadband Plan will be the biggest ever investment in rural Ireland –  147,000km of fibre will be rolled out to 500,000 premises and one million people.

“If the opposition want to cut the cost, there is one main way to do it: leave 100,000 premises behind. It has been estimated that by leaving behind the last 20% of premises, which are the most remote and difficult to reach, we could reduce the cost of the broadband plan by one third. This would mean not connecting over 13,000 premises in Cork, 5,800 in Galway, 7,500 in Donegal. I do not support such an approach, but Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein should be honest with rural Ireland.

“Before making the decision to appoint a preferred bidder, the government looked at every possible alternative. It was clear that there was no alternative that could deliver broadband faster or more cheaply than the plan set out. No evidence has been presented to the committee which would suggest that any alternative approach could deliver at a lower cost, while delivering the objectives set, protecting the state and ensuring a competitive market environment.

“A change to the procurement terms at this stage would likely require the current process to be cancelled and a new process started with delays of up to five years.”

“I am disappointed that during committee hearings that some members of the committee, while criticising the lack of information being provided to the committee by the Department of Communications, then sought to confine Department officials to ‘one or two word responses’.”

Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party, Martin Heydon TD. said:

“Fine Gael’s plan is to deliver high speed broadband to every home, farm, business and school in rural Ireland. Further reviews can only delay making a decision.

“There has been a historical underinvestment in broadband by the State since the sale of Telecom Eireann. The state has invested just €400m in broadband between 2002-2016. By comparison €36.9B will have been invested in roads and €10.8B in Water in the period 2002-2021. We believe that the investment in the National Broadband Plan must be in this context. It is vital that we invest now to combat the historical underinvestment.

“Without the National Broadband Plan, over a million people, mostly living in rural Ireland will not have access to high speed broadband. Following the sale of Telcom Eireann, the provision of broadband was left in private hands. Commercial providers have said they will not provide these services to those one million people, which will widen the digital divide in this country.

“Without the National Broadband Plan, rural Ireland will be excluded from opportunities available to those living in urban areas and as technology develops and our dependence on digital increases, these services will become even more crucial to daily life.

“Now is the time for political honesty. Either we roll out broadband under this plan or we don’t. A fundamental change to the Plan, as recommended in some of the recommendations, cannot be made without cancelling this procurement process and starting again. To start again could take five years.”

ENDS