Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said he is confident in a process that has reached this point. The reality is that a venture capital company is the bidder for one of the largest infrastructural projects this State has ever offered, and probably ever will offer. I find it somewhat troubling that the Minister is still expressing absolute confident in an "iterative" procurement process, as he has described it in the past. It has been through every machination. We have seen some of the biggest companies, those which normally roll-out this kind of infrastructure, including Eir, the ESB, Vodafone, John Laing plc and SSE, and which are all household names and recognised for their capacity to roll-out this type of infrastructure, pull out of this process. We are left with one venture capital company based in the United States which is now fronting up to deliver this infrastructure. I hope it happens. I do not want to pour cold water on the desire of the Minister to roll out this project. I share his desire to see that happen. However, I have serious reservations and concerns about a process that goes on for such a long time and the stated intention of which - to roll-out the service - has been delayed so many times, yet at the end of the process a venture capital company that is accustomed to taking high risks for high reward and which will suffer no real reputational loss if it does not work is the sole bidder. My real concern is that the companies I have mentioned - ESB, Vodafone, Eir, SSE and John Laing plc - have departed the scene because they did not see a value proposition for them. If that does not send a signal to the Minister and his Department that there is potentially something very wrong here, that leads to more questions. The Minister now has an opportunity to explain to us why he believes we are still on track.