Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 June 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Matt Yardley:

I might add a point that may help address the question. The costs were looked at by us in incredible detail. Our work involves going into a lot of detail to understand the volumes and the unit prices involved in this bid, if the committee is concerned that these costs are not fair. In that report, which the Deputy can read into, there are certain things which give a sense of where we landed on this. We were happy with the costs at an aggregate level. We had question about certain elements beneath that which need working through with the bidder in the final stages. Due diligence has been done on that, but it is fair for us to be cautious on the commercial sensitivity point. That is separate to the understanding the State is exposed to.