I cannot understand how anyone was surprised when Eir dropped out of tendering to bring broadband to 500,000 houses and businesses outside the main urban areas. This is the classic dilemma all governments face with providing infrastructure.

Do you just do the capital and a few major towns and cities or do you consciously try to ensure some degree of balance? I have huge sympathy with the need to place hi-tech expensive medical facilities in major urban centres but within sensible reach of everyone.

With hugely improved roads and modern cars that ‘‘sensible’’ distance has got much further.

But basic household and business facilities are an entirely different matter. When Ardnacrusha was built and the ESB was formed in the early 1920s, bringing electricity to every household was a key part of government policy. Mind you it took a while – the Economic War of the 30s , World War II and the Depression of the mid-1950s all delayed the attainment of the aim. But the aim and policy were unswerving and the goal was achieved.

We have had no such consistent policy in relation to broadband. Not only have we had no consistent policy but we have allowed the cherry-picking of lucrative metropolitan areas where the business case will be strong and where price monitoring is weak and profits will be and are very attractive.

I had thought that lesson had been learned until I happened to meet over a year ago some senior personnel from Eir. I was horrified to hear them describe how the provision of broadband was not going to be feasible given the conditions at that stage – well over a year ago, it was assumed that the 800,000 rural homes and businesses would be treated as an entire project and that real tenders would be sought from the three main players in the field.

It was astonishing that Eir was allowed take the 300,000 commercially most attractive of these and leave the remaining 500,000 for somebody else to do. Not surprisingly, the other main contender, the Vodafone/ESB combination, withdrew to leave one sole provider to discuss terms – not a good position for the Government to be in.

The parallel with Government approach to the ESB is instructive. While conceptually there may have been nothing wrong with the Government divesting itself of the old Eircom business that installed all the phone exchanges and lines, the process has been a disaster.

There have been multiple changes of ownership with high-cost phone and broadband services in the cities and parts of the country with poor mobile coverage and effectively no broadband over large areas of rural Ireland. There have been endless strategy papers and promises.

Maybe Minister Denis Naughton is right when he says we will be a world leader in this area within a few years. Perhaps, but I remain to be convinced until a strategy that has details is developed, published and analysed by reputable specialists.