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Govt to publish report on future of National Broadband Plan

Govt to publish report on future of National Broadband Plan

An independent report into the future of the National Broadband Plan will be published today.

Cabinet Ministers will see the report this morning before it is released to the public.

The report will reveal whether or not the tendering process for the National Broadband Plan can continue after serious questions were raised about it.

Independent Auditor Peter Smyth has been examining whether meetings between former Communications Minister Denis Naughten and businessman David McCourt undermined the process.

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Mr McCourt is heavily involved in the last remaining consortium bidding for the contract to roll out broadband across the country.

Leaks in the last week have suggested the report will find that the process has not been undermined.

The Government received the report last week and has spent that time contacting the parties named in the review and redacting certain parts considered commercially sensitive.

It is also likely that time was used to come up with a way forward for the Broadband Plan that reacts to the questions around the process while bracing politicians from any political backlash that could come from further delays to the promised delivery of high-speed broadband.

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