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FIANNA FÁIL WON’T bring down the government over the National Broadband Plan contract, according to the party’s communications spokesperson.
At the launch of the Oireachtas Communications Committee report on the broadband plan, which does not garner support from the committee’s Fine Gael members, Timmy Dooley said Fianna Fáil continues to support the government in the confidence and supply agreement.
Last week, the committee voted on a number of recommendations, backing the proposal for the broadband network to remain in public ownership.
The committee – which investigated the government’s decision to award Granahan McCourt preferred bidder status for the multi-billion euro contract – voted to recommend that the government reopen talks over the network.
One of the only recommendations not adopted by the committee today was a proposal from Fine Gael members to sign the contract and to roll-out the network as soon as possible.
The report also recommends that the government commission an external and independent review on whether the current proposal is value for money.
“Are we going to bring down the government on the strength of whether they are going to accept this report or not, the answer is no. No, we won’t bring down the government on this,” said Dooley today.
He said in their role as the opposition, Fianna Fáil has been “responsible” in highlighting their concerns about the current plan on the table and its €3 billion price tag.
He said the decision on whether to sign the contract is ultimately a matter for the government to decide, stating that no Dail motion or debate is going to change things, in his view.
He told TheJournal.ie that the government must now decide if it is going to listen or ignore an Oireachtas committee’s recommendations on the future of the National Broadband Plan.
Chairperson of the committee Hildegarde Naughten, who is also a Fine Gael TD, said any further reviews into the plan will only delay the roll out of rural broadband further.
Outlining the timetable, she said the committee’s report will now go to the Communications Minister Richard Bruton to consider.
She said the minister has committed to assessing the report before signing the contract with the preferred bidder.
Government sources told this publication last week that it is keen to sign the contract and “get started right away”.
They hit back at Fianna Fail’s position to carry out a review, stating that nothing new will be discovered.
“When the NBP was announced back in May, the opposition claimed they had an alternative that would be cheaper for the taxpayer and deliver broadband to rural Ireland more swiftly.
“After months of hearings, the opposition’s big plan is to delay the roll out, and instead commission more reports, and hire more consultants.
“It’s proof positive that there is no better plan,” they said.
Dooley questioned if the government will continue to “bury their heads in the sand”, stating that the Eir offer, where the company said the network could be delivered for a lot less money than the €3 billion, should be further investigated.
He said if Eir can deliver the plan for €2 billion less, then a delay is warranted so as to ascertain if it is actually deliverable. Ultimately, however, Dooley said this is a government decision.
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Think you will find they are not. You think the public finances are bad now. They would be orders of magnitude worse off in the case of unity. Add that to the almost certainty of a civil war in the North. Thanks but no thanks.
@Dave Connolly: agreed, there would definitely be a civil war if that happens anytime soon. As much as it would be nice to have a united ireland, I’d much prefer to be separated if it ment innocent lives saved.
@Dave Connolly: David McWilliams says the exact opposite to you. He says that Ireland would thrive with unity. No disrespect to you Dave but I would take the word of a very accurate economist such as McWilliams over you any day of the week.
@Dave Connolly: “Economist and commentator David McWilliams has said Brexit has made a united Ireland far more likely, and that reunification represented a huge opportunity for the North with no downside.”
https://irishplan.net/reunification-now-more-likely-represents-a-huge-opportunity-mcwilliams/
@James Beattie: In fairness, McWilliams hasn’t been right about anything since 2008
@James Beattie: here’s another view from the experts. It appears as though opinion is heavily divided on the cost/benefit. One thing is for sure, the security budget would go through the roof. Employment would also be interesting with 1 in 3 people working in the UK public sector.
@James Beattie:
There would have to be a peaceful transition to unity to have any economic effect.
@Mickety Dee: Any examples to back up your comment? He was ignored by FF in 2008 and look what happened, the biggest crash in almost a century resulting in the taxpayers bailing out a banking system that was allowed run riot.
@Mickety Dee: I presume you are trying to wind a few up on here. McWilliams is one of the leading economists in not only ireland but Europe. He is bang on the money.
@Dave Connolly: as long as the people of the North continue to vote for the parties of conflict ( SF and the DUP) the North will always be a sectarian pit. Until the likes of the peace Wall (gas a Wall built to stop two communities from attacking each other called a peace wall) Any one who thinks a united ireland would work is mad
@James Beattie: we get it, you wear David McWilliams pyjamas to bed at night.
@John Moloney: better than wearing a Union Jack one like you kiddo
@Chris Mc: I always knew I was mad.
@James Beattie: why? have you a problem with people choosing to wear union jacks? its the small comments like this that show just how difficult any unification would be.
@alan: never said I have a problem with it. More reading and less commenting would suit you much better
FF & FG have had 100 years of power between them in Ireland, wouldn’t it be nice if they put that ‘experience’ to use by entering their own candidates into future elections in the six counties to make a difference or would they prefer to remain on the fence? Surely there are members & supporters of both parties who would prefer our island to be united rather than occupied. Just throwing it out there.
@GrumpyAulFella: Think it’s 1 in 2 up the north.
@Dave Connolly: it’s a century or two before the bigots on both sides are out of the picture, by that stage we’ll be abandoning low lying land cause of rising sea levels and taking in millions of migrants cause of unlivable areas of the planet, Irish unity won’t be a priority then survival will be.
@Pat Barry: that’s even more scary.
Good. Nor should they. We’ve enough problems with 26 counties never mind the sectarianism rife in the other 6.
Thousands of people aren’t waking up at all, thanks to the SF and Unionist murder gangs.
have your say