Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I do. When we attended the presentation made by the Department, a worrying matter emerged regarding the construction of the National Broadband Ireland company, that the State would have one representative on a board of nine. One person would represent the State, but the role of that person was not clear. Would that person's role be in the interests of the State and the people or those of the company? That matter was not cleared up. It is important that we know the answers. We saw in the debacle with the national children's hospital - interestingly, it has almost been completely forgotten because this matter has superseded it and become the issue of the day - that the person who represented the State on the board for the construction of the hospital was accountable to the board and the company, rather than to the State, despite the massive spending of public money. This is a serious question related to the public interest.