Mr. Fergal Mulligan:

The representatives of NBI answered that point this morning and I do not disagree with their assessment.

They have hedged materials for the next two or three years, again insofar as they could. They have come below the target and saved money on those procurements, which, again, we oversaw. They have come under budget on materials so far and have good stock for the next two or three years of fibre cable, brackets, poles and everything else.

On the labour market front, they have a framework with pretty much every major contractor in the State, be it KN Circet, Secto, Actavo, Gaeltec or TLI Group. They have contracts with Vodafone, Enet and Eir. They have a very broad scale of contractors up and down the country in every county. There are currently 1,200 and there will be up to 1,800 by the end of next year and the year after working on the programme.

There will be pressure points in the market generally on construction. NBI was, I suppose, ahead of the game to be able to secure contracts and it has secured five seven-year contracts with which it can go to market. I share its confidence that it should not have a problem.