The Irish Mail on Sunday

Leo’s like a billionair­e’s son in a strange casino

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THOUGHT of the day for the Taoiseach: ‘When there is no penalty for failure, failure proliferat­es.’ For instance, Fine Gael blithely ignores its six-year failure to provide rural broadband, yet will risk billions on a ‘tendering’ process for the National Broadband Plan where there’s only one bidder.

There is only one bidder left in the NBP competitio­n, leaving anyone with any sense asking how can you have a tendering process when there is only one bidder?

Be sure, however, that the Taoiseach will proceed with the plan that casts him as the idiot son of a billionair­e in a casino owned by broadband bidders.

The latest twist began last week when an independen­t inquiry into the tendering process for the NBP contract gave the Government the result it wanted. The Smyth report found that repeated secret meetings that former communicat­ions minister Denis Naughten had with the sole bidder, David McCourt, had not invalidate­d the contract. The findings appear to contradict the Taoiseach’s decision last month that Mr Naughten should resign over the meetings.

IN THE Dáil last week, Fianna Fáil spokesman Timmy Dooley asked a €3bn question: Is the sole remaining consortium left bidding competent to complete the project? Grantham McCourt, an investment company led by David McCourt, is in the bidding consortium with Enet, experts in managing broadband networks. Last year, Scottish utility SSE and logistic specialist­s John Laing left the consortium, taking with them years of experience delivering multibilli­on-euro projects.

David McCourt told a British magazine that the NBP plan would require ‘a couple of billion’ in subsidies from the EU and Irish Government. But Mr McCourt didn’t mention that after taxpayers pay the subsidies, the winning consortium would own the NBP network.

That brings us back to idiots in a casino with access to billions – and the praise telecom operators recently heaped on Denis Naughten after his ‘untimely’ resignatio­n.

Recent estimates put the final cost of the NBP at €3bn but nobody knows. But even more worrying is the suspicion that nobody really cares how much it costs – so long as a convincing plan can be included in a manifesto for the general election. It also means taxpayers will underwrite an unproven and unaudited plan for rural broadband in Fine Gael’s re-election programme.

Some experts argue that 4G or 5G wireless technology would deliver high-speed broadband access at a much lower cost – others say that wouldn’t work without expensive fibre-optic cable.

Comparing the NBP to rural electrific­ation has led to calls for the ESB to bail out the Government with its expertise. But the ESB was in a consortium that examined bidding for the NBP and decided not to get involved. Did they see something to avoid in the prospectus the Government missed or ignored?

After six years, hopes for the NBP delivering a service to the 542,000 premises seeking it are confused and deluded – but then so is the Government. This is a oncein-a-lifetime addition to our infrastruc­ture, yet there is no tried and tested strategy, nor even a proper costing of broadband roll-out.

Another delay is another insult to rural Ireland. But a rush to commit billions without proper planning or accounting is worse – it’s an affront to all the people of Ireland.

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