Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Department launched a procurement process in December 2015. Did it have some sort of timeframe at that point to get shovels into the ground? Mr. Ó hÓbáin has overall responsibility for the tender process. Given that it started in the middle of 2014 and procurement was launched in December 2015, but that it will now be the end of 2018 before we get a preferred bidder and a contract, does he think the process is fit for purpose? It has taken three years, if not longer. As an assistant secretary of a Department, is Mr. Ó hÓbáin happy with the process from the perspective of the overall delivery of a State policy?

Is an overall price included in the details submitted by the one remaining bidder? How much will the State have to provide, by way of an intervention, to make sure it is rolled out? Is there a technical solution? I assume one has been provided. Has the contractor provided the Department with a timeline by reference to T+, "T" being the date of the signing of the contract? Is there a date for starting deployment, the rate at which the project is rolled out, that is, the number of homes included per week, and a concluding date?