Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and thank them for taking the time to attend. My concerns relate to the cost to the taxpayer; the risk to the public finances; the total absence of competition, given that there is now only one bidder; the fact that the owner will ultimately be the investor; the subsidy and the 340,000 households and premises to be connected by Eir; and the governance.

What is set out in the plan for National Broadband Ireland is a structure whereby one person will be representing the investor who puts in 95% of the cash upfront, which is the taxpayer, and there will be eight representing the outfit that puts in 5%.

In light of his comments that he has extensive experience of PPPs - this project is a PPP of sorts - has Dr. Palcic ever seen a PPP such as this and was it a success? Dr. Palcic also referred to the NDFA and stated that it would normally be involved in major projects. Ministers have indicated time and again in the Dáil and in these rooms that this is the biggest tendering process ever undertaken by the State. It is an absolutely massive project and the scale has increased in the context of costs. Is there any reason the Government would not hand this over to the NDFA? According to replies I received to parliamentary questions, up to 80 people have been working on this in the Department for a number of years. I suspect that there are bale loads of information, such as tender, legal and procurement documents, and that the entire process is bogged down in a quagmire. Can Dr. Palcic think of any reason the project would not go to the NDFA?