Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that I am in my office in Leinster House. I thank Mr. Hendrick, Ms Collins and Mr. Malone for being available and for engaging with us in our meeting today. They were also available earlier in the day and I took the opportunity to meet them briefly in Buswells Hotel. In particular, I thank them for taking time to travel around the country over the summer and meet with members of this committee in their constituencies and walk us through situations in which broadband is being installed. That was very welcome. It is best practice engagement. Forgive me for saying this, Chairman, but the chief executive of Aer Lingus is running away from the committee while we have another entity here that is running to engage with us. This is what our committee would like to see from all bodies with which we deal.

The NBI website has been improved and there is much more information available. That information is more localised in nature and allows people to drill down in terms of what they want to access.

I have a number of questions. My first question would be applicable in respect of any part of the country in which NBI has crews at the moment. When NBI came to Clare, we could see where cables were being brought above and below ground. I was brought into a housing estate where substantial works were required in terms of ducting and installing additional chambers. There were some significant civil engineering works involved. If that was the case in one housing estate in Clare, when it is replicated throughout Clare and the remainder of the country, is that a factor in pushing up costs for NBI? Was this factored in by the company when it submitted its initial bid?