August 30th, 2012 - Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte announces the National Broadband Plan (NBP), describing it as "the rural electrification of the 21st century".
July 15th, 2015 - Minister for Communications Alex White publishes a draft strategy and map of a proposed intervention area, which includes a promise of a 2020 timeline for delivery.
December 22nd, 2015 - The Department of Communications publishes an intervention map while controversially rejecting a proposal by Eir to supply 300,000 homes in the NBP area on a commercial basis. It also announces a shortlist of five bidders for project, which includes Eir, Siro, Enet, Imagine and Gigabit Fibre.
July 5th, 2016 - White adds another 170,000 homes to the intervention area, bringing it to 927,000 homes, more than a third of the State’s housing stock, while Eir, Enet and Siro proceed to the next stage of procurement.
April 5th, 2017 - Minister for Communications Denis Naughten announces as a deal with Eir to remove 300,000 homes from NBP, leaving 542,000 for the State-subsided scheme.
July 4th, 2017 - Naughten signals the plan will be delayed by at least a year due to the complexity of the tender
September 26th, 2017 - Siro drops out, saying there was no longer a “business case” for its continued participation. Industry sources say the company exited because of Government’s deal with Eir.
January 31st, 2018 - Eir, the State's largest telco and pre-race favourite, drops out, citing "growing uncertainty" about regulatory and pricing issues. The sole remaining bidder Enet is joined in its bid by Airtricity owner SSE and UK logistics specialist John Laing.
April 7th, 2018 - Naughten "facilitates" a lunch at Leinster House for David McCourt, the Irish-born founder and chairman of US investment firm Granahan McCourt and his family members. The Minister, who does not attend himself, paid for the €37 lunch through a direct debit Oireachtas system, which deducts payments from salaries.
June 26th, 2018 - Naughten and Department of Communications officials hold a meeting with McCourt.
July 16th, 2018 - Naughten accepts a New York dinner invite from McCourt.
July 28th, 2018 - SSE exits the lead bidding consortium, which is now led by Granahan McCourt.
September 18th, 2018 - The department receives final tender from Granahan McCourt consortium, which now lists Denis O’Brien’s Actavo as a key partner while John Laing exits.
October 4th, 2018 - Details of Naughten’s New York dinner meeting with McCourt come to light. His department initially insists the event was primarily social but later releases minutes of the meeting.
October 11th, 2018 - Naughten admits he met McCourt on a separate occasion in June with other departmental officials.
October 12th, 2018 - Naughten resigns after admitting he held three further private dinners with McCourt during the procurement process. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar orders a review of the tender process.
