Ireland's Minister for Communications, Denis Naughten, has resigned from his post in the wake of controversy about a series of private meetings with the last remaining bidder for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) contract, reports The Times.
In a statement to parliament on 11 October, Naughten said that Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had lost confidence in him and asked him to consider his position. The Prime Minister said that he had ordered a review of the procurement process for the contract, saying the Minister had left himself open to accusations of a conflict of interest through his relationship with David McCourt, who is leading the consortium bidding for the contract.
