Breen had breakfast with broadband bid billionaire
Hours before f irst off icial talks with Denis Naughten, Junior Minister had met with David McCourt
EMBATTLED Junior Minister Pat Breen met businessman David McCourt for breakfast just before the US billionaire’s first official meeting with communications minister Denis Naughten in 2016.
Mr Breen met with Mr McCourt in Dublin’s five-star Merrion Hotel and declined to comment on who else was there. There appears to be no record of what was discussed.
The news comes as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s spin doctors refused to reveal the details of the private meetings between ex-minister Naughten and Mr McCourt.
Those meetings forced Mr Naughten to quit the Cabinet.
The Fine Gael leader, who prom- ised a new style of politics when elected, has refused to say if he has given powers of compellability to the expert appointed to review the situation.
Independent auditor Peter Smyth has been three weeks to examine whether the private meetings between a lead consortium bidder and the minister have fatally compromised the tendering process for the National Broadband Plan.
Compellability powers would give Mr Smyth the authority to force all interested parties to cooperate with his review.
Speculation is growing that the outcome of his report is a foregone conclusion. Suspicions are fuelled by the fact that the Taoiseach and the Department of Communications have refused to reveal the extent of Mr Smyth’s powers.
A source close to Cabinet said: ‘The Taoiseach assured those in
‘They are not serious about tackling this’
the Independent Alliance he has written material about these meetings… it is expected Mr Smyth will conclude that the National Broadband Plan tendering process has not been compromised.’
Last night a tech industry expert said: ‘The fact that the person reviewing it has been asked to come back within three weeks tells you where they [the Government] are at. That’s too short a period to do a comprehensive discovery or find documents.
‘They are not serious about tackling this and this review is just for show. You wouldn’t need half a brain to know the tender process has been compromised. It’s just beyond farce.
‘There have been a number of red flags along the way when this whole process should have been stopped. BT Ireland were in talks with the minister well in advance before the contracts for the MANS [Metropolitan Area Network] contracts were extended. Even though the minister had the power to extend these contracts without putting them out to tender, it flies in the face of everything that these contracts were given to ENET without the minister putting it out to tender.’
ENET got the contracts in March 2017 – four months before the State-backed Irish Infrastructure
Fund agreed to buy 78% of the broadband firm.
Mr Breen refused yesterday to reveal who paid for his breakfast with Mr McCourt. Mr Breen’s spokesman said his ministerial role meant ‘he had occasion to meet or be present at meetings or events with Mr McCourt, a significant investor in Ireland… all of which are recorded in his Ministerial diary.’