Sanctions on National Broadband Ireland for delays and performance issues to top €250,000 in coming weeks

Sanctions on National Broadband Ireland (NBI) for building delays and performance issues in the roll-out of the high-speed rural internet network will top €250,000 in the coming weeks, the Dáil’s spending watchdog has heard.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was given an update on the roll-out of the €3 billion National Broadband Plan (NBP) on Thursday by officials from the Department of Communications.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) has previously outlined how the state has imposed €157,300 in sanctions on NBI, made up of just under €134,800 in fines for building delays and €22,500 due to performance issues.

The PAC was told that a further €100,000 in sanctions will be levied in the coming weeks and that more are on the way.

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Department of Communications secretary general Mark Griffin told TDs it was originally planned that 204,000 premises would have the fibre network installed and ready for connection by the end of January 2023. The Government revised this target downwards to 102,000 premises due to construction delays caused by Covid-19.

Mr Griffin said this figure is due to be met by the end of the year, a month earlier than expected under the revised targets. The target for 2023 is a further 80,000 to 85,000 premises.

So far 85,000 premises have been “passed”, meaning they are ready for installation, and 20,500 have been connected to broadband through retail suppliers - a rate of 24 per cent which Mr Griffin said “is exceeding expectations for this stage of the project”. The roll-out is about a year behind the original schedule.

NBP programme director Fergal Mulligan said any sanctions are “credited off any subsidy that’s paid out”.

In total the State is to spend as much as €2.7 billion over the lifetime of the project, which is about a year behind the original schedule.

PAC chairman Brian Stanley said the size of the sanctions when compared to the €2.7 billion the State could end up paying on the project suggested that the State and the taxpayer were “being swung around with this one”.

“I welcome the fact there are some sanctions, however small, and I take on board your point they only get paid for what’s rolled out,” Mr Stanley said.