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The Taoiseach has said he would welcome an Oireachtas committee hearing into the National Broadband Plan bidding process.<\/p>\nThe Taoiseach has said he would welcome an Oireachtas committee hearing into the National Broadband Plan bidding process.<\/p>\n
Fianna F\u00e1il yesterday called for the Communications Committee to hold an investigation into the tendering process behind the \u20ac5bn plan.<\/p>\n
The Government gave the go-ahead to the project last week, despite warnings from senior officials in the Department of Expenditure that the plan posed unprecedented risk to the taxpayer.<\/p>\n
It aims to deliver the roll-out of high-speed broadband to more than 540,000 homes and business across the country in the next seven years.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar told the D\u00e1il: \u201cI would absolutely welcome hearings being held by the joint Oireachtas committee. I\u2019d have no objection to that whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he said any inquiry should have a \u201creasonable time frame\u201d and that the terms of reference would need to be agreed by the major parties.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach made the remarks during Leaders\u2019 Questions today.<\/p>\n
He said the government had been \u201cvery transparent\u201d about the plan, releasing advice from officials in the department of expenditure and the department of communications as well as independent analysis by firms such as KPMG and PwC.<\/p>\n
He added that the Government had made the decision to publish the documents rather than have information come out in a \u201cdrip, drip\u201d manner at a later date through Freedom of Information requests.<\/p>\n
Asked by Fianna F\u00e1il leader Micheal Martin what projects would have to be shelved over the next three years to facilitate rural broadband, Mr Varadkar admitted there would be a budgetary impact as a result of the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be no budgetary impact in 2019 and a very minimal budgetary impact on 2020 in fact possibly none\u2026.There will be a budgetary impact from 2021 onwards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will outline in the Summer Economic Statement in the next couple of weeks how the funding will be provided.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin said Mr Varadkar had belatedly asked the opposition yesterday to back the government\u2019s position on the plan in \u201cfull electioneering mode and with little genuine regard for the legitimate concerns that people have in relation to the government\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the public are annoyed and frustrated by the delays to date and increasingly angry at the government\u2019s \u201ccavalier approach\u201d to the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou declared it yesterday to be an expensive and ambitious plan, Taoiseach.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, Taoiseach, I would remind you it is not your money, it is the taxpayers\u2019 money,\u201d Mr Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you are electioneering and playing politics with large sums of taxpayers\u2019 money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar denied the accusations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no electioneering going on here when it comes to this issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThis is politics from your side, in my view, when it comes to timing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he told the D\u00e1il he understood any \u201creasoned and considered concerns\u201d members of the opposition may have about the project because he said he had concerns initially about the plan.<\/p>\n
He repeated his request to the opposition parties \u201cnot to rush to conclusion\u201d on the plan.<\/p>\n