Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 June 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Denis O'Leary:

The theory is that bidders submit the costs of delivering the project and infrastructure, and the subsidy plugs the gap between that and what would make a regulated return. It was not intended that an extremely high subsidy would make extremely high returns, because there was a clawback mechanism in the contract from the State. Unfortunately, if far inferior returns were made, there was no mechanism in the contract to support the bidders. All the risk lay with the bidder. That is one issue I want to raise on the discussions that have taken place regarding the subsidy.

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