FF want all advice on €3bn broadband plan published

The Government must publish all advice on the controversial National Broadband Plan (NBP), Fianna Fáil have demanded.

It is expected the Government will ignore concerns raised by senior officials and sign off on the much delayed and criticised plan in the coming weeks.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had said that a decision on the plan which, has spiralled from €550m to €3bn, would be made before Easter, however, this deadline was missed and the NBP will not be discussed when Cabinet hold their weekly meeting in Cork on Wednesday.

It has been reported that Robert Watt, secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, told Mr Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe that the plan to deliver high-speed broadband to every home and business in the country should be abandoned due to escalating and unaffordable costs.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin called for “full transparency”, claiming the Government were providing “a drip, drip feed” of information.

“Barry Cowen wrote last week to the Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe asking him to publish all advice within his department in relation to the National Broadband Plan and its expenditure and how much it’s going to cost,” he said.

Mr Martin hit out at “eight years of failure” to deliver broadband to rural Ireland and said it would have been better if the Government had asked a State agency like the ESB to provide high-speed broadband to the remaining 540,000 properties without the service instead of a private firm.

A spokesperson for Communications Minister Richard Bruton said the Government wants to deliver the NBP but added that they have to make sure they do it in the right manner.

“The Government will make its decision on this important issue soon, in the full knowledge of the cost of the project and that of alternative options.”

She said it would have been inappropriate to make a final decision on the NBP earlier this year as the threat of a crash-out Brexit loomed.