Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ms Ball said a team from the UK advised in this area. Perhaps it could give a view, which might make its way to the committee in due course. The major question for us, which Ms Ball cannot answer, is why the State is still proceeding with a gap funding model when, effectively, it is taking on so much of the risk. There is the notion of the competitive tensions that would exist with the larger operators and their existing infrastructure, which is no longer part of the final process. We discovered yesterday from Analysys Mason that, in effect, the current bidder is going to build on the existing network Eir has for the 300,000 homes and businesses that have been passed. That will be overlaid, which raises many concerns for us about cost and the timeframe. Those are issues we must address and I accept Ms Ball's division is not in a position to answer on it, but perhaps another division within PwC might provide us with some information or a view on it.