I wish to ask the Taoiseach about the national broadband procurement plan. This morning, it was announced on "Morning Ireland" that the Peter Smyth report had indicated that the process to procure the national broadband plan had not been undermined by contact between the former Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, and Mr. David McCourt. It quoted a number of Government sources and their interpretation of the report. Why are a number of Government sources interpreting a report that has not been published and when will people see the report?

I wish I knew because a number of Government sources have not seen the report. The only people in the Government who have it are the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, and I.

Government sources gave it to RTÉ.

The Deputy should not interrupt.

The journalists confirmed that this morning.

I have no idea how that kind of thing transpires, but the position is as it was yesterday. The report is with the Attorney General and he may need to redact parts of it for reasons of commercial sensitivity. It has been given to individuals who are not members of the Government and are named in it to allow for their opinion.

Who is spinning?

It is my intention to publish the report as soon as I can, preferably in the next couple of days.

I ask for the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence on one point. The leader of the Opposition repeated the idea again that somehow last October I committed to a carbon tax increase in the recent budget. I have heard a few people make that false claim. I will now read out what I said in August.

The Taoiseach is taking up the time of the House now.

I stated that we were going to do some work on the carbon tax.

Could we please have silence?

Could we have the personal statement from the Taoiseach afterwards?

I said that we were very much of the view that if we were going to meet our climate change obligations, we would have to grasp the nettle in increasing the carbon tax over the next couple of years, but very much recognising that some people who are in poverty and those who are most vulnerable can be the worst affected by that, so there would have to be compensatory measures.

That is what I said.

I said we would be working on proposals to set a price for carbon and then bring the tax up to that over a period of time. We would, I said, need to talk to the main Opposition party about that and agree at Government but I thought it a necessary part of our climate change obligations.

What I said in August is what I said here. I never said or committed to a carbon tax increase in the recent budget.