Ms Carolan Lennon:

Eir did not make a pitch. The Department contacted all telecoms operators and asked what our plans were to build into that 840,00 or 850,000 intervention footprint. We understand that several telecom operators, including ourselves, went back to the Department and told it our plans. The only operator that went off and put its money where its mouth was, spent the €250,000 and did the build, was Eir. We signed a commitment contract at the request of the Department. We would have done that build anyway.