Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 November 2018
56. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department has undertaken a value for money review of the cost of the national broadband plan; the impact it will have on the on the wider national development plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49186/18]
View answerIs Deputy Cowen ready for action?
I will let the Minister answer first and will add up my time after that.
Under the public spending code, value-for-money reviews are conducted on existing programmes of expenditure and are targeted at areas of significant expenditure where there is the greatest potential for them to add value and influence policy developments. These are ex post evaluations.
The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is the sponsoring agency for the national broadband plan, NBP. As the Deputy will be aware, that Department is currently evaluating the final tender received under the existing procurement process. As such, this will be a new area of expenditure. It is the responsibility of the sponsoring agency for the NBP to comply with the provisions of the public spending code. The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has conducted a full appraisal of the plan, including an economic appraisal in the form of a cost-benefit analysis.
In respect of the impact on the wider national development plan, NDP, it would not be appropriate to comment or speculate on the NBP at this juncture in advance of the Government having considered the matter.
I hear what the Minister is saying. An evaluation is taking place and it is difficult for him to commit on the cost this will entail, in spite of how long it has been going on and the various reports and controversies surrounding the provision of broadband. As he said during the lunchtime news, 27% or 28% of the population, or 500,000 homes, still do not have access. All they want to know is how much this will cost and when they will have it. A sum of €275 million is committed under the NDP. If it costs more, is there provision within the plan for that sum to be increased? I am also conscious that €500 million has been committed by the European Investment Bank, EIB. If this process were to collapse, for example, and it was to be undertaken by a public body, would the €500 million still be available? Is that sum the full extent of the commitment that has been made by the EIB?
To summarise my questions, is €275 million the limit of the commitment in the NDP? If it is to be increased, what provision will be made and from where? Is the €500 million committed by the EIB the entirety of the provision there? In the event of the existing process being amended, will that €500 million remain committed?
The Deputy is correct regarding how much money is currently profiled for this in the NDP. Under it, I acknowledge that depending on the decision the Government makes, the amount that might be needed for the national broadband plan could increase. We have to make a decision in that respect in the coming period.
If additional funding is put in to fund the NBP, it can come from two different areas. Assuming that we do not increase our level of taxation or borrow more to pay for existing infrastructural commitments, there are two options open to Government. The first is that we could make a decision to put additional funding into the national broadband plan and the national development plan. That would clearly have an opportunity cost and there would be other measures for which that money could not be used. Equally, a decision could be made to move capital around within the NDP to make additional commitments available for broadband.
All of this is premature at this point because, as the Deputy has acknowledged, both the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and my own Department have further work to do as part of the procurement process. On the Deputy's final question about the EIB, I believe it is fully committed to this plan but any additional funding it might need to put into this is a matter for the bank and I cannot speak on its behalf.
However, the Minister acknowledges the EIB has already committed €500 million towards the entirety of whatever process is put in place to provide the national broadband plan. The Government recently published the national development plan with various aspects of it having been launched in recent times and more to come in the coming months. Regarding next year's allocation, it would appear that if the Government put €275 million aside it would be a major error of judgment if that were grossly undervalued and it would impact on other provisions that are made in the national development plan which might not rest easily with many other Government commitments.
On the first question, I do not have the exact amount of money the European Investment Bank has committed to the national broadband plan, but I will get the information and send it on to the Deputy.
On the second question, as I said, if the national broadband plan needs additional funding within the national development plan, that funding could only be provided in one of two ways: either more money goes into the national development plan overall or we make a decision to reprioritise funding within the national development plan. The latter would have consequences for other commitments in the national development plan.
At this point further work needs to be done to complete the evaluation and tendering process for the national broadband plan which was understandably delayed to allow the work being led by Mr. Peter Smyth to come to a conclusion. I and the rest of the Government will now engage on the next steps for the national broadband process, to which we remain fully committed.
