Broadband plan in jeopardy? Alarms bells ringing again

Last February, Denis Naughten, the Minister for Communications, told an Oireachtas committee that the last bidder interested in the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) is “really committed” and “there is no sense of stopping the clock now”.

Weekend reports suggest that the sands have shifted and that the NBP is in jeopardy — and that the 542,000 homes or business targetted by it may have to wait even longer to join the modern world. Weeks before Mr Naughton gave that assurance, he was warned by Eir that the Government’s broadband process was unworkable. Richard Moat, the Eir CEO, said the company was quitting the project, because of “repeatedly highlighted” commercial, regulatory, and governance issues.” He also warned that “the NBP will drive very substantial, additional subsidy costs and delays to the rollout of high-speed broadband to rural Ireland”.

The reports that SSE, a member of the only consortium still seeking the contract, has withdrawn seem a vindication of Eir. That a private business declined to become involved in a State-subsidised monopoly amplifies those concerns.

Broadband is a staple of life and the prospect of further delays, already unacceptable, underlines how unwise it is to rely on the market, even when heavily subsidised, to deliver essential social projects. The inability to access life-changing broadband is becoming another self-imposed, limiting, and dangerous faultline in our society. Must do better.