‘We need broadband’

LIVE MIKE Minister Michael Ring spoke on the National Broadband Plan yesterday (Monday) in Castlebar when he officially opened the new Castlebar Community Radio studio. He is pictured with the Chairman of the radio station's board of management, Pat Staunton.

Minister Ring makes personal commitment on broadband rollout

Edwin McGreal

Controversy over the resignation last week of Minister for Communications Denis Naughten cannot allow the nationwide rollout of the National Broadband Plan to stop.
That was the assertion of Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring, who was questioned by The Mayo News about the future of the National Broadband Plan yesterday (Monday) during the official opening of Community Radio Castlebar’s new studios.
The plan has been thrown into doubt following revelations that while he was Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten attended four private dinners with David McCourt, then head of Enet, the remaining bidder for the rural broadband scheme contract.
The revelations led to Naughten’s resignation and, pending DΡil approval today (Tuesday), the installation of Richard Bruton as the new minister of the portfolio. Commenting, Minister Ring said he will now be demanding that Minister Bruton ensures that the National Broadband Plan goes ahead.

Meeting next week
“There’s 500,000 homes in the country now that don’t have high speed broadband,” Minister Ring told The Mayo News. “I want that to be a priority for Government.
“I’m not going to talk about the process itself, but all I am saying is if he [Bruton] is appointed tomorrow officially, I’ll be meeting him next week. It has to be the number-one priority in that Department that high-speed broadband continues to be rolled out, that the contract will be given out to whoever is going to get it – I don’t want to get involved in talking about the process itself – but I am not going to allow it [the current controversy] to be an excuse for anybody not to make sure that we get our high-speed broadband. It is one of the most important pieces of infrastructure.
“I want the 500,000-plus homes that haven’t got it to get it, and it will be my priority [and] the Taoiseach’s priority, and I will be making it Richard Bruton’s priority as well,” insisted Minister Ring.  

Ring connected
Minister Ring said he saw for himself the benefits of high-speed broadband in recent weeks when his own home in Westport was connected to the network. “It is a fantastic facility. It is important infrastructure. We need it for jobs, we need it for people, we need it for children to be educated.
“I’m lucky where I live … I got it about three weeks ago, and I see what it really means to my home.” The minister also revealed that before his home was connected, he would have to go into his office at nighttime to get emails, as he wasn’t able to get them at his house.
“To be fair to this Government, when we came into Government, 55 percent of the population had high-speed broadband; 75 percent of the people now have it,” he added.
Minister Ring admitted that the 25 percent shortfall is in rural Ireland. “There’s no point pretending: it’s rural Ireland. It’s rural Mayo, rural Leitrim, rural Sligo … To be fair to Government, the private sector will not do this [roll out the service in rural areas]. Government will have to put their hands in their pockets in relation to this … We need broadband, and I want it, and I am going to be making it a priority for Government.”
Process compromised?
Speaking in the DΡil after Mr Naughten’s resignation, the Taoiseach said that an independent auditor would ‘assess whether or not the [tender] process has been compromised’.
The National Broadband Plan was first published in 2012 by Pat Rabbitte, who was the communications minister at the time. Its stated aim was to connect all the State’s homes, schools and businesses to high-speed broadband. It promised to deliver minimum speeds of 30 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 6Mbps uploads by 2020.
Three bidders entered the tendering competition – Eir, Siro, and Enet. However both Eir and Siro have pulled out of the process. Meanwhile SSE, a major part of the Enet consortium, exited in July, leaving major doubts over the project.