Mr. Liam O'Brien:

To go back to what Mr. Barrins said at the start, we are speaking here about long-term investments in the market. Investments in fibre infrastructure for homes are not made for a small number of years, they are made for decades. What is important in that context is the fact that in making those investments, one looks into a market where one has confidence in the market, in the regulatory regime within the market, in the prices within the market, how the market will operate and evolve. When there is uncertainty as to how a market will evolve, when there are delays in market governance and reviews and when there is a regulator with limited powers who is unable to enforce compliance on other operators, it creates a drag on investment. Others would be less likely to invest. Notwithstanding that, Vodafone has created with the ESB a joint venture partner, which is separately a member of ALTO, called SIRO. Members might be familiar with it. As such, we are putting out money where our mouth is and not just standing on the sidelines throwing stones. SIRO is investing hundreds of millions of euro to bring fibre to homes in other parts of Ireland.

Senator O'Reilly asked whether others would have done the deal on the 300,000 premises and as Mr. Lupton said, it is slightly more complex than that given the nature of the deal. However, others are investing. We are also investing in fibre to the home in the Irish market through our joint venture with SIRO. Wholesale competition is part of the answer here. It is a "Yes" on regulating incumbents to ensure they operate in a fair and compliant way but there is also an onus on industry and on us to be part of that solution. We feel the investments we are making are part of the solution. While we are bringing money to the table, it unlikely that we can replace Eircom and cover the whole market. We all want a strong but fair Eir in the market. It needs to be there to give access to constituents and access to ourselves.