Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2018
44. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the national broadband plan process; and the dates by which construction of the broadband network will commence and be completed. [37876/18]
View answerI appreciate the Minister's confirmation that he has received the bid today. Will he tell the House who the bid is from? He is aware that in recent months Eir pulled out of the process, as did the SIRO consortium made up of the ESB and Vodafone, and we were left with one bidder, Enet. I understand that, prior to the break in the process, Enet was a consortium made up of SSE, the John Laing Group and Granahan McCourt Capital. Will the Minister confirm that this is the consortium that submitted the bid today?
The procurement process to select a company that will deliver high-speed broadband to 543,000 premises in the State intervention area is now in its final stages. The bidding consortium is proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution, which will be capable of delivering more than 100 Mbps to premises and up to 1 gigabit for businesses. This network will be a wholesale open access network, over which multiple retail providers will offer a range of services to citizens and businesses at competitive prices.
The deployment of the State intervention network will allow 1.1 million citizens to fully participate in the digital society. The intervention area includes 558,000 members of the labour force for whom a high-speed broadband network will open up possibilities for remote working. The intervention area also includes almost 56,000 farms, more than 44,000 small and medium enterprises and more than 600 schools.
As I outlined in my response to Deputy Stanley, my Department received today the final tender from the remaining bidder in the national broadband plan procurement process. I do not propose to comment further while the evaluation of the submission is ongoing. However, it is worth reflecting on the investment of more than €2.7 billion in high-speed broadband infrastructure that has taken place in Ireland in parallel with the national broadband plan procurement process. The commercial sector has clearly reacted to the programme for Government commitment to ensure access to high-speed broadband to every premises in Ireland by investing significantly in new infrastructure and by offering services with a minimum download speed in excess of 100 Mbps.
Deputy Dooley asked about the consortium. It is a Granahan McCourt Capital led consortium. While I do not propose to comment in any way on the submission received by my Department earlier today, I understand the consortium will issue a press statement later today providing some background detail.
The Minister is telling the House that Enet is no longer the lead bidder and that the company is not part of the consortium that is bidding. It seems that the John Laing Group is no longer part of the consortium. We are aware that SSE removed itself from the consortium some time ago. While the Minister will not tell us very much, by his failure to respond to the question, he is confirming that the only remaining bidder here is Granahan McCourt Capital. Can we make that assumption? I ask the Minister to answer that question.
As I said, I cannot or will not comment on that at the moment. I understand the consortium will issue a statement later today, which will provide detail on the questions that have been raised.
In light of the information the Minister is not giving us, does he have any concerns about the viability of the company in question and its ability to meet the requirements of this important contract? Some time ago, when I raised concerns in this House with the Minister about this particular bidder, he pounced on me and lectured me about the quality of the consortium. At that stage, the Minister put much stock in SSE and the John Laing Group and their international reputations.
The Minister will need to reflect very seriously on this matter in light of what is about to emerge on the change in character of the bidder that has submitted its final tender. I understand the political expediency of getting a deal signed, but this contract is for 25 years. The Minister may be gone from office and I may be gone from this House, but I do not intend to be part of leaving a mess behind us that does not deliver the long promised broadband services to 540,000 premises. This has been promised since 2012 and nobody in that cohort of 540,000 is any closer to seeing broadband delivered. There is no start date for the first house and no end date for the last house.
There are now real questions about the viability of the bid. Eir, Vodafone, the ESB and SSE have pulled out and my information is that the John Laing Group has pulled out. Enet has moved from the front to the back of the line. If that does not raise very serious questions about the viability and capacity of the State to roll out this service, I do not know what does. The Minister is driving headlong into this and failing to do what I previously asked him to do, namely, take time out to reflect on whether it will be possible to do this based on the kinds of tendering processes put in place in the first instance.
Let me be crystal clear for Deputy Dooley and all Members. As I stated, the procurement process involved is complex and each of the bidders had to provide evidence of the necessary economic and financial standing along with the required technical and professional capability to deliver on this. We received a tender earlier today and the evaluation team needs to be allowed the space to undertake a comprehensive and robust assessment of that tender.
The 543,000 families and businesses do not care what name is on the side of van. They want and deserve high-speed broadband and I am determined to ensure they get it.
