The issue of rural broadband is not just about connectivity to the Internet, but about sustaining and maintaining jobs in rural Ireland. Broadband is to the economy today what canals were to the economy in the 1700s, railways were in the 1900s, rural electrification in the 1930s and 1940s and telephone connections with the wider world in the 1970s and 1980s. Now there is another delay in broadband provision. We are aware that this is somehow being spun as a victory for the Government, which is quite an amazing achievement. We hear that it is going to be cheaper, or it is going to be the same cost or it is going to be faster, but we all know these are not the facts. Statistics are pliable but the facts are very stubborn. The facts do not lie.

Ireland is ranked at No. 42 in the global index on broadband availability. High-speed broadband is only available to some 40% of the population. Why are we delaying so much and so badly? In fairness to the Government, one thing it has not been short on when it comes to this matter is announcements, targets and deadlines, all of which the Government has not met. The Minister looked very sheepish yesterday as he announced this, somehow or other, victory. He said that they were now going to be able to roll it out on time. As they have not met any other targets so far, for the Minister to spin this as a victory is quite unbelievable and audacious. The spin unit must be working overtime all the time to pretend.

It is a fact, and we all heard this on morning radio today, that people and business communities in rural Ireland are being affected by their inability to work due to the lack of broadband. There is no shortage of plans or announcements but there is no believable plan. The credibility of the Minister of the Department is an issue when one sees very credible companies withdrawing from the process. Most of this is to do with the process that was put in place by the Minister and the Department. The Minister has to take responsibility. I believe that he needs to give an explanation to the people. Coming into this House from across the way and telling us that he has a new deadline, on top of the other deadlines, is simply not good enough. How are the people in Roscommon, Kerry and Mayo supposed to maintain and sustain jobs when the Government's plans and targets, upon which people are relying to deliver connectivity, are simply not being met?

I wish to raise an issue relating Coillte and its forest-farm partnerships. People who tuned in to "Morning Ireland" today heard a litany of stories and complaints. The programme included a special interview and investigation carried out by George Lee, who is part of RTÉ's news staff. We heard about a range of disappointments for farmers and people involved in the forest-farm partnership scheme who have not received their payments and who have had no communication from Coillte, the State's forestry board.

My concern, which I have raised on a number of occasions in the House, is the issue of Coillte. Coillte is the State forestry company. It is a State company and its shareholding is vested in the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. They have complete and utter control over this State agency. It is important we have a detailed and comprehensive debate about Irish forestry. While Coillte owns a very substantial land bank across the country, it also attempts and promises to work in partnership with small farm holdings and people who wish to get into the forestry sector. A lot of people changed their land over to forestry with expectations in the short term, medium term and long term. There is a long-term gain and it is a long-term enterprise. They have been let down.

The chief executive of Coillte was on RTÉ this morning and explained there were shortcomings, which was a credit to him. He accepted there were shortcomings and that he would attempt to do something. I am renewing my call to the Leader because I have asked him twice before. I would appreciate if Deputy Andrew Doyle, the Minister of State with special responsibility for forestry and horticulture, would come to the House and give us a focused overview of the role of Coillte, particularly dealing with the issue of farm partnerships. It is an important issue going forward and an important issue for us to debate to see if some resolution can be found for the people we heard about this morning on "Morning Ireland".

I will briefly refer to the latest disaster in the roll out of broadband as a result of Eir's withdrawal. It is a disaster but Sinn Féin has been consistent; we warned that the process was flawed from the beginning.

The Senator is delighted.

I am not delighted. It is a disaster for people in rural Ireland. It is a disaster that stems ultimately from an ideological fixation that Fine Gael has with tendering out and privatisation. That is where the flaws are. It is like listening to bald men arguing over a comb when one hears Fianna Fáil - I can say this - raising the issue.

Leave me out of this.

Let us remember it was Fianna Fáil that started this disaster-----

Well said.

-----by privatising Eircom in 1999. It is pretty cheeky now to say things are not working out because it started this process. Unfortunately Fine Gael continued it. It has been a disaster. People in rural Ireland are at a complete loss with regard to this issue. That is the point. The privatisation model has failed. We want a debate on the matter but we need the Leader's Government to recognise that privatising assets is not the best way forward in every circumstance.

The second issue I want to raise is really serious. The section 39 workers' strike is due on 14 February. Something quite shocking happened yesterday at the health committee. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform refused to turn up to the health committee. We have a strike affecting thousands of workers and thousands of vulnerable service users and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform refused to turn up. Who is running the Government? I demand that the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, comes in here to explain why his Department refused to attend an Oireachtas meeting yesterday. The Department is essential to the solution to this crisis. As things stand, workers will have to go out on strike. The Government has been warned about it for months. We have heard talk and more talk but when it comes down to it, the Department is hiding. It is hiding from workers, from my union, SIPTU, and it is hiding from coming out and explaining where the hell it was yesterday. It is not good enough for a Government Department to hide away from the public and from Oireachtas committees. I would like a clear statement from the Leader condemning that and I am asking for the Minister to come to the House.