Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have two related questions. Eir was sold for a significant sum, and the figure was €4 billion was mentioned at one stage. Perhaps the witnesses will be able clarify that. The Eir network had very little investment in it over the 20 year period, or in the nearly two decades since privatisation. Very little cable was replaced. The cable has been exposed to the severe weather in the winters since then. Eir has what the witnesses would call distribution and what I would call connectivity and a connection and an infrastructure value despite the fact that it needs a lot of upgrading and repair. Will the witnesses remind us of the price achieved when Eircom was sold?

When Eir exited the competition, I believe it had what it needed at that stage. It got 300,000 households and premises that were easy to reach and it then said, thank you very much.

The real issue is the overlay. The whole thing is bananas, that one was going overlaying fibre already there, which was going to happen. I said it would act like Dick Turpin on the highway and say, "You won't pass us unless you pay". To combat that, one must go around it or overlay another system on its one.

The real issue Deputy O'Connell missed is that the taxpayer must pay a subsidy for each pole, each year and for each metre of cable that the fibre runs through. That is the real issue because we are going with the model of using one private company to use the network of another private company and Joe and Mary Soap will subsidise the whole thing, which completely ties into the cost escalation of €0.8 billion up to what it is now. The other factor in driving up the cost is the fact that we are now in a situation where €1 billion of €3 billion of taxpayers' money is going to be handed over and it has to be handed to a separate private company by the investor to allow it to use its infrastructure. Is that not the real issue plus the overlay in the Eir intervention and controlled area? Is that not the reason for driving up the cost from an estimated €0.5 billion to €1 billion to a bill of €3 billion for the taxpayer? We must pay for each pole and each metre of ducting must be subsidised. It is not as if Eir is saying to us that we can use it and it is all right to overlay it. The taxpayer must pay for this each year with the crazy scheme that has been designed.