Mr. Fergal Mulligan:

The Deputy mentioned the credibility of the plan. We are acutely aware that the plan was published in 2012 and it is now 2014. I can confidently say that we have a very firm quarter-by-quarter plan to see this job done. That will take us through the majority of 2015 to launch a procurement process. The procurement process answers many of the Deputy's questions regarding money and operators. Next year we will know exactly where we are going and how we are going to get there. When we know that, we can then publish a tender to commercial companies to tender to the Government to build the network we require for rural areas.

We will not know how much that will cost the State until the procurement process is over. Part of my job is to get maximum value for the State where a company or companies build the network with the Government and with their own money as well. We do not know how much money the other operators are willing to put up to build the network in rural Ireland. The winner will decide that in terms of how much money they ask from the State to foot the bill for the bit they are not willing to fund. There are large companies, such as ESB or Eircom, and many small companies that are willing to bid for this network because, ultimately, we are going to subsidise the bit they cannot fund commercially. There is, therefore, quite a significant prize for a number of telecommunications companies to be part of the award process in which the Government will participate. Along with that, however, there are many issues in terms of legal challenges that might or might not happen and hurdles we might encounter along the way. One of our jobs is to stay out of court. If anyone goes to court, everyone is a loser because the entire process is delayed.

We are moving things as quickly as possible. We are conscious that we must ensure the European Commission is happy with everything we are doing and also that we do not get in trouble with any commercial operators who think what we are doing is illegal. Those are the two key points we must address over the next 12 months to ensure that when we do it, we do it right, it happens on time and we are not tripped up on the way.

We continually meet the European Commission. There will be a number of meetings between now and November and now and next June to ensure that by the time we seek the official seal of approval, we are confident of getting it. Again, one of our jobs is to ensure this communication area is open, the dialogue is open, the letter comes through in the end and we are not back to the drawing board.