Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will conclude on this point. The Minister stated that the process was unusual. The competitive dialogue was certainly unusual. It could be well argued that it has delivered a rather unusual result. All of the commercial companies I have mentioned which have such vast amount of experience in rolling out such infrastructure, Vodafone, ESB, SSE and John Lang, have fallen by the wayside. The unusual result is that a venture capital company is now the sole bidder and the company charged with delivery. If the Minister does not consider that an unusual result, he should. It should create very considerable concern for the State, which has so much money and reputation tied up in this and which has responsibility for rolling out this broadband. I know it will take time to establish whether this is the right decision, but grave concerns have been expressed by myself and others during this process. It is incumbent on the Minister and to think very seriously about where he is going from here and whether there is the capacity to roll out this really important service within the expected timeline.