It is a pity the Taoiseach is not here. My understanding is that he is attending a party-political event in Europe.

He is in Croatia.

He might call to the Vatican.

He is meeting other leaders. What I am about to raise is important in terms of how the Government conducts itself and a strict adherence to the demarcation lines between officeholders and party political events. We raised this matter with the Government last April in respect of the utilisation of the national broadband plan for the local elections.

Yesterday, what should have been a formal, hands-off signing of a €3 billion contract between a private company and Government officeholders was turned into a nakedly political by-election event in County Wicklow, attended by Fine Gael non-officeholders, candidates and councillors.

Fianna Dáil Deputies were also in attendance.

The one Fianna Fáil Deputy who was there was not invited. The event took place at his former school and he found his way there. The Government organised a Fine Gael event. This is a serious occurrence which represents a blurring of office-holding and Government activity with party political campaigning.

The Deputy's time is up.

That should not happen. Will the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment give an assurance that no public resources will be used to assist non-officeholders in the promotion of this initiative?

Deputy Martin is out of time.

Will he confirm that no Fine Gael candidate will be provided with information in terms of campaigning? Will he take steps to suspend advertising and marketing in advance of the general election?

Please, Deputy.

Will the Minister confirm that the private companies who got this contract did not provide information to the Fine Gael Party prior to the contract being signed?

I assure the House that at every step in this process, we have been meticulous in ensuring that the public interest is protected. It was natural, at the signing of such an important contract, that we would have senior officials present who were involved in the development of the initiative.

On my recommendation, the Government approved the go-ahead for the project yesterday. This is a significant project for rural Ireland.

We had children in the Chamber last week and their behaviour was better and certainly more orderly than that of Deputies today. The Minister has been asked a question and should be allowed to answer it.

Hear, hear.

A significant decision was made by the Government yesterday to sign a contract which will help to ensure that people in rural Ireland have access to high-speed broadband on the same basis as do people in urban communities. Signing the contract was an important event. In every interaction with those who are tendering for such a project, a Minister will, of course, be accompanied by officials. Indeed, the absence of officials at certain meetings in the past has been a matter of some controversy. This is a really important decision and it deserved the attention it got from Ministers across Government, who were glad to be part of an important announcement for the future of the country.

The Minister did not answer the questions that were put to him.