The tendering process under the national broadband plan, NBP, has been chaotic, to say the least. The big players, namely, Eir, the ESB and Vodafone, have pulled out. SSE Airtricity has left the consortium led by Mr. David McCourt. The John Laing Group, which was one of the companies providing cash and firepower, is also gone and Enet has been relegated to the role of a subcontractor in the process. Just one company remains in the process and all the others are gone. The State, which owns Enet, is to become a subcontractor to a private venture firm from America but will bankroll the project. It is essentially becoming an employee of a venture capital company. It is absolutely bizarre that we are in this position.

To add to this, there are serious questions about the contact between the Minister responsible for the process, Deputy Naughten, and the head of the sole remaining consortium, Mr. David McCourt. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment facilitated a lunch in Leinster House for Mr. McCourt and his family in April, paid for by the Minister. That was on the same day he was answering questions in the Chamber about inappropriate contact regarding the takeover of Celtic Media Group by Independent News & Media, INM. The Minister later met Mr. McCourt in June and he also met him at a dinner in New York in July. All of that happened at a crucial point in the tendering process. The Minister has acknowledged that the process was in its final stages. He has said that he did not discuss the process with Mr. McCourt at the dinner in New York, that he was at the table but that the officials were engaged in the discussion. That is simply unbelievable. Information on the discussion is contained in the minutes. This is despite the communications protocol for the process, which is laid out in black and white, stating that officials from the Department outside the team involved in the process could not meet the bidders at any time. It is protocol No. 1 on page No. 7 and it states that it should not happen. It is forbidden. The protocol is there for particular reasons.

While the Minister may not have been part of the discussion, as he claims, he was at the table. It is clear that he breached his own rules. He says that he did not, but the rule is laid out in black and white for everybody to see and it shows that he did. The Taoiseach said this morning that he has full confidence in him. Frankly, the process has gone from chaotic to farcical. All the while there are significant doubts about the capacity of this consortium to deliver. Leaving aside the inappropriate contact between the Minister and Mr. McCourt, there is no evidence that we are any closer to knowing when the roll-out will begin and whether the Government has a plan B to deliver broadband to the 542,000 households if this process falls apart.

Has the Tánaiste spoken to the Minister about his contact with Mr. McCourt? Were there just those three contacts with that individual over the past year or 18 months? Does the Tánaiste accept that the Minister breached his own protocols, set out in black and white, in respect of the tendering process? Does he have full confidence in the Minister? Would he do what the Minister has done, which is meet with a person who is involved in a serious bid worth €500 million, facilitate his family in private dining and meet him where issues were discussed? Finally, will the Tánaiste ensure that the minutes of the meeting of 28 June, which we discovered yesterday, are published in advance of the Minister coming to the House so that Members of the Opposition can thoroughly question and tease out aspects of that meeting?

First, I am glad to put on the record the process that is under way to ensure the approximately 500,000 properties that will be unable to get high-speed broadband through normal commercial channels will be able to get it through a national broadband scheme which the Government is determined to deliver. The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has advised that the bidder in the national broadband procurement process is led by Granahan McCourt Capital and includes subcontractors Enet, Nokia, Actavo, the Kelly Group and KN Group. Enet will provide access to the metropolitan area network, MAN, infrastructure together with day-to-day operational activities. Nokia will provide a wide range of high-speed broadband equipment throughout the intervention area and the Kelly Group, KN Group and Actavo will provide the necessary staffing and construction expertise when building the fibre over the Eir network. Eir is also a key subcontractor to the bidder and will provide access to more than 1 million poles and 15,000 km of ducting to serve consumers in the intervention area. This tendering and procurement process is moving forward so we can complete the job of ensuring that homes and businesses in parts of rural Ireland can enjoy the high speed broadband connectivity they need to run their businesses and to interact, as many households do, with cities and towns.

On the second issue, the Minister, Deputy Naughten, has agreed to come to the House between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. today. He has agreed to make a detailed statement and to take questions from the Deputy and other Members who wish to ask them. It is appropriate to give him the opportunity to outline in detail what his involvement has been in meetings with Mr. David McCourt or anybody else, and to answer the questions Members are entitled to ask about a process as significant as this procurement process in order that he can reassure the House that his meetings and interactions have been appropriate and in no way have undermined the credibility of that process.

I asked my questions of the Tánaiste in his capacity as the second most senior member of the Government. Does he have full confidence in the Minister? Would he have done what the Minister did repeatedly at a late stage in the tendering process, which is continue to meet one of the main bidders? Will he ensure the minutes of the meeting of 28 June, which we discovered yesterday, are published so that we can scrutinise them before the Minister comes to the House? Does the Tánaiste accept what is stated in black and white, that officials from the Department, outside of the NBP team, will not at any time discuss the procurement process? He blatantly breached that. Has the Tánaiste sought any assurances or is he just going on blind faith? Has he spoken to the Minister? Has the Minister confirmed to the Tánaiste that these three occasions were the only occasions he has engaged with Mr. David McCourt? Perhaps he shone a light on what he told the committee on 8 February, which is that he had spoken directly at that time to Mr. David McCourt regarding their intentions in the bidding process, another event we do not know about.

I thank the Deputy.

We also know that the meeting which emerged yesterday is not included in his official diary.

I know that the Deputy's time is up.

Has the Tánaiste received any assurances in that regard and does he believe the Minister breached his own protocols?

First, I spoke to the Minister this morning. I rang him and he rang me back. It was a relatively brief conversation. I asked him to outline the detail for me, some of which the Deputy has asked about, and he did that. I expect that there will be no problem with publishing minutes of meetings. He has done that in respect of the minutes relating to the dinner in New York. The Minister would like a fair hearing in this House and he is happy to field detailed questions from Members who wish to ask them so that he can reassure the House and the Government of his bona fides on this issue. Nothing he told me this morning undermines my confidence in him. Members should give him the time and space to outline in detail the meetings he has had with Mr. David McCourt and the nature of those meetings so we can try to put this issue to bed.