Mr. Ciarán Ó hÓbáin:

It would be a very dull world if we were all in agreement, at official and political level, all the time. There has been significant engagement between the two key Departments - my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform - throughout the process and that is continuing. Where one finds oneself working as a civil servant is something of an accident.

The Deputy pointed to some material that is in the public domain and it is a positive aspect of the decision making around the national broadband plan that so much information has been put in the public domain. It does not always help with the discourse because there is a lot of material, but key documents are critical. In the letter from the Secretary General of my own Department in response to the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the former goes through all the issues that were raised at great length. The conclusion was that the analysis of civil servants in the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment was that the project is the right project and that it can be recommended to Government, even though there was disagreement across points between the Departments. This Department is not an evangelist promoting the digital agenda or connectivity. We have a responsibility to provide policy advice on the implementation of projects. Having done the critical analysis and taken the expert advice available to us, from experts on our own team and externally, we have come to a clear conclusion and the Secretary General articulated that at a meeting of this committee. His letter of 24 April should be accessed by people who want to understand the position of the Department on the matter.