Broadband plan ‘is an abject failure’
Anger after SSE pull out of tendering process
THE Government is under fire after part of the consortium tasked with delivering the National Broadband Plan pulled out of the tendering process.
It is understood that SSE is withdrawing from the consortium Enet who were the only bidders for the tender.
Eir, Vodafone and ESB previously withdrew from the same process earlier this year. The Programme for Government promised to deliver broadband to every home across Ireland by 2020.
Fianna Fáil’s communications spokesperson Timmy Dooley hit out at the Government for failing to deliver on promises made to the people of rural Ireland in the last two general elections.
He said: ‘The simple fact of the matter is that in their last two general election manifestos, Fine Gael have made promises to hundreds of thousands of citizens living in rural Ireland that it would roll out a National Broadband Plan. At every stage where progress was due, Fine Gael moved the goalposts to deflect from their abject failure.’
Mr Dooley criticised the Government for not securing enough investment for the project to make it financially viable for those implementing it.
‘With SSE withdrawing from the Enet bid, it’s crystal clear that none of the companies capable of delivering the plan can see an avenue towards a decent financial return. Time and time again, Fine Gael and their partners in Government, whoever they may be, have failed to deliver the hard cash needed to roll out the National Broadband Plan.
‘The wheels have come off the entire National Broadband Plan. Since Minister Naughten took office in 2016, every facet of the plan has been diminished and downgraded, and any opportunity to reduce the State’s involvement has been taken,’ he said.
Mr Dooley called on the Communications Minister Denis Naughten to deliver an independent review of the broadband plan to date as was voted for by the Dáil last February.
And Sinn Féin’s communications spokesperson, Brian Stanley, branded the Fine Gael plan to have fibre in every home by 2020 a ‘fantasy’. ‘The model being proposed by the Government is not sustainable. The only company who can deliver fibre is ESB Networks, which is State owned, and we have flagged this up to the minister time and time again.
‘The idea that we will have fibre in every home by 2020 with the current model is a Fine Gael-led fantasy.’
In a statement, chairman of the Enet consortium David McCourt said while he could not comment on the NBP process, the consortium is ‘considering and reviewing structures’ to ensure the ‘optimum response to the tender process’.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, Minister of State for Rural and Community Development Seán Kyne said while there have been delays he still expects the final tender to be signed in the autumn.