The rural economy is facing many threats and challenges, not least the Brexit challenge due to its reliance on agrifood and small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs. Broadband is critical infrastructure for SMEs and households across rural Ireland. The Government's performance to date in implementing the national broadband plan has been shockingly slow and ineffective, revealing an incapacity to project manage, execute and deliver a plan of this nature. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, confirmed this as far back as 2015 when he said the Government has lost patience with the pace of the roll-out. The procurement process has been ongoing for a considerable length of time.

There have been many commitments. In 2012, the then Minister, former Deputy Pat Rabbitte, published a plan committing the Government to providing 100% broadband provision well ahead of 2020. In its 2016 manifesto, Fine Gael committed to the provision of high-speed broadband to at least 85% of premises by 2018 and 100% by 2020. In 2016, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, said that the contract would be awarded by June 2017. However, now we cannot even get a date from that Minister for when the procurement process will be completed. The decision to allow Eir to proceed with 300,000 households appears to have condemned the remaining 542,000 households to an indefinite wait for broadband. Ronan Lupton of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators summed up the situation when he said that the commercial viability of the national broadband plan is now in question. He said, "We're in Angola with regards to rural broadband and it looks like we're going to stay in Angola".

The reason for the Government's decision regarding Eir, which is a commercial company, must be far more transparent. Does it fundamentally alter the procurement process, given what companies were originally tendering for and the new situation? In the replies the Minister gave to questions in the Dáil he spoke about the next phase of the plan and so forth. However, the deadlines have been missed and the programme for Government commitment is way out when compared with what was said. There must be full transparency on this. Why is the Minister not in a position to give a date for the completion of the procurement process and the awarding of the contract in respect of the remaining 542,000 houses? Otherwise rural Ireland will be condemned indefinitely in terms of the provision of broadband, which will have dire consequences for the retention of investment and attracting inward investment in the future.

The Government believes in an economy that is based on equal opportunity, that is, the opportunity for every individual and family, as well as every region of the country, to join fully in the economic recovery and to experience prosperity. We are seeing economic growth in all parts of the country, as is evident in the statistics. There is jobs growth in all parts of the country and unemployment is falling in all regions. That is extremely important for many reasons. However, we must accelerate the recovery in rural areas and ensure that the areas that have not grown as fast as our cities are able to catch up. Improvements in infrastructure are crucial to enabling them to catch up. That includes improvements in transport infrastructure, which are under way with the Gort to Tuam motorway just one example of a major project, and improvements in broadband, to allow premises, businesses and homes to connect to the high-speed broadband network.

Currently, just over 50% of premises in Ireland have access to high-speed broadband. We estimate that it will increase to over 75% by the end of 2018 and to between 90% and 100% by 2020-21. Eir has committed to providing high-speed broadband to 300,000 premises and it will start on that shortly. In the larger intervention area 550,000 premises have been identified for intervention under the national broadband plan. At present, detailed discussions are taking place around the contracts. They will run until September, approximately, and it is estimated that the companies can put in their final bids at that point. It is a huge contract and we are anxious to ensure we get it right. The Deputy will be aware that there were difficulties and problems in the past with telecommunications contracts, and with such contracts going wrong, so it is important that we get this absolutely right. The money is available to support it and the Government is fully behind it.

We are determined to minimise any delays in providing broadband to all parts of the country. Indeed, at local authority level officers have been appointed to be a single point of contact in respect of broadband, so they can overcome difficulties that in the past and even now could be created by local authorities in providing access to the infrastructure required for the roll-out of broadband.

The Taoiseach must answer the questions that are asked. Eir is not the Government and he should stop trying to claim credit for what a commercial operator is doing. Deadlines have been missed repeatedly and the Minister, Deputy Naughten, has refused to give a date for when the procurement process will be complete and the contract awarded. The Government's commitment in the programme for Government has gone by the wayside. That programme states: "Following the completion of the tender process and the awarding of the contract, targeted for June 2017, the new Government will work with the winners to accelerate the roll out of the infrastructure next year". We are nowhere near that, and there is no transparency around it. Cliff Taylor put it very well in a recent article when he wrote: "At this stage even the National Children's Hospital will be operational before the broadband plan is complete." The degree to which the needs of rural households and businesses are being denied and dismissed is scandalous, given the shambolic approach to delivering on a national plan that was published as far back as 2012. We now face the prospect of it being potentially 2019 or 2020 before we see the commencement of this plan, if at all. We do not know whether the companies that bid for the original process are now redoing their sums as a result of the Government's decision with regard to Eir.

The Deputy is way over time and must conclude.

That changes the ballpark. If one bids for 900,000 and 300,000 are taken out, with no reason given for the change in the Government's approach in that regard, does the plan not change fundamentally? Is it the case that the 542,000 premises will be waiting to infinity for something to happen?

Eir is a private firm and, as such, has identified approximately 300,000 premises where it believes it can provide high-speed broadband on a commercial basis at no cost to the taxpayer. That is very welcome. Obviously we wish to ensure that when we use taxpayers' money we do so where it is needed, not where the private sector or a commercial enterprise can do it for us without recourse to the taxpayer. That is under way and it will allow another 300,000 premises across the country to be connected to high speed broadband.

That is very important and welcome. As for the other 540,000 premises, Government intervention will be required and we are determined to do that as quickly as we possibly can. However, we have to follow proper procedures and procurement rules. We hope there will be a number of bidders for this enormous contract and it can be awarded as soon as possible. I assure the Deputy that the Government will minimise delays. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that every premises has access to high-speed broadband to enable all of them to take part in the modern digital economy as they wish to do.