Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have one last question. It is full of risks and the job of the political system sometimes is to take risks. I am perfectly willing to take risks in funding the provision of fibre broadband to rural Irish homes. However, given the fact that we are potentially investing €3.25 billion while the developer is investing €175 million, I see no reason not to go for a concession model under which we own the asset at the end. That way, the upside risk belongs to us in the end.

Mention was made of the ESB and negotiations with that entity. I have also been talking to the ESB and others in the last year about the possibility of using their pole network. There is a certain strategic sense in doing so because we do not really need two sets of poles across the country. My understanding is that the technology, regulatory and other risks are minimal because the ESB is already out there, rolling out to half a million homes. We know that it can do it and has learned a lot in the last few years. The biggest risk is getting anything done across a field rather than down a road. The Eir poles are on the road network, by and large, at the edge of fields whereas the ESB network crosses fields. It is my understanding, having spoken to many of those involved in recent years, that the biggest problem will be getting the agreement of landowners. It is not that landowners will be discommoded in any way and I am sure that farmers like Senator Lombard would readily agree to a line going straight across his land-----