80% of contractors who were brought in to cut hedges in the first stage of rolling out the National Broadband Plan have “pulled off site” in a dispute over prices, according to independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice.
Speaking in the Dáil last Thursday (November 5), the TD brought up the National Broadband Plan (NBP), stating:
“Work on this has started in various parts of the country.
“Ironically, the first thing that is done in going from pole to pole is to clip the top of hedgerows, the 6% of which we left out of our climate mitigation plans, to make sure the wire does not get cut.
Unfortunately, 80% of the contractors throughout the country have pulled off site. They tell us the surveying has been done wrong and the way it has been added up is completely wrong compared with the other providers we have in the country, and we all know them.
“This is bread-and-butter stuff and there are already stand-offs. There are some parts of the country where a few contractors are working. Other than this, they have all pulled off site.”
Continuing, deputy Fitzmaurice said: “From what I can see, we seem to have a main contractor that does not seem to have a lot of gear or machinery and subcontracts it down, and then it is subcontracted down again and then subcontracted down again.
“Is there anything in place to make sure the ordinary contractors at the bottom of this ladder are protected and get the proper price for the work they are doing, or is this a big figure for broadband and screw everyone down along? What has the government put in place to make sure these people are protected?”
In response to this, the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he was not aware of the dispute and that he would discuss the matter with Minister for Transport, Climate Action and the Environment Eamon Ryan.
Varadkar added: “There is an oversight mechanism in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications which is responsible for communications networks to make sure this is project managed, driven and delivered.
We would expect that if the main contractor, NBI [National Broadband Ireland], is getting paid by the taxpayer, it should honour any agreements it has with subcontractors to make sure the money goes down the line.
“It should honour any contracts and commitments it makes with subcontractors, so we would expect that to happen.”
Thanking the Tánaiste, deputy Fitzmaurice said: “The problem at the moment is that there are subcontractors who have basically gone away from it because they could not survive or make money on the rates they were being offered.
“The surveys done seem to be ludicrous compared to what has already been done with providers each year going back the years where broadband has already been done. There are standards that are needed,” the TD stressed.