Kildare TDs raise concerns for the county following Éir's withdrawal from National Broadband Plan
Two Kildare TDs have raised major concerns after it was confirmed yesterday that Éir would be withdrawing from the National Broadband Rollout plan that the government had to ensure that every area of the country had access to high-speed services.
The broadband provider pulled out of the running to secure the government contract due to concerns over the pricing after ComReg, the State's statutory body that is responsible for the electronic communications sector, pulled out of the running.
It means that Enet is the only company left bidding for the contract, which is to supply fibre broadband lines to every area of the country.
Fianna Fáil TDs James Lawless and Fiona O'Loughlin have been highly critical of the handling of the project.
“The action of Minister Denis Naughton in allowing Éir to cherrypick the most viable households from the original areas designated for the National Rural Broadband Scheme has caused the virtual collapse of the competitive tendering process, will lead to the scheme costing the taxpayers many extra millions of euro and condemns hundreds of thousands of rural dwellers to continued bad or no broadband coverage," stated Deputy Lawless.
"The approval by the Minister of a proposal from Éir to service 300,000 of the most viable households effectively ended this process as a competitive tender. Éir, had their competitive advantage further enhanced by the Minister with this decision. It also automatically added to the cost of any proposal from other competitors," continued Deputy Lawless.
South Kildare TD O'Loughlin said that the problems with the National Broadband Rollout plan would have a detrimental effect on businesses within Kildare, citing south Kildare as an area that badly needs improvement on the line.
“This decision by Eir could be detrimental to the Broadband roll out for Kildare and for the Country; especially to rural areas that have been waiting years," stated Deputy O'Loughlin.
"It is time that the Taoiseach intervene and give an explanation as to why all the local businesses and homeowners are living in 2018 with limited or no access to broadband.
"The lack of high speed broadband in parts of South Kildare has been hampering the development of many SME's. It has also been a problem in homes where students are unable access internet to study and research. I hope that Minister Naughten is working on resolving this crisis."