Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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I still think this meeting with the ESB is useful. Members of the public are entitled to know exactly what was going on behind the scenes. There is a feeling that there was some sort of preference for the Granahan McCourt approach. It was so influential that it persuaded the Government to potentially award it a contract when it does not own any fibre or a single pole. That is extraordinary. We have a semi-State company with a proven track record which has accounts in every house in Ireland. It would be simple to extend the accounting system to fibre. It would be within ESB's ability to do that. When I was in the Department of Industry and Commerce, I was in Kuala Lumpur with ESB International. The ESB went to Malaysia and the Middle East and secured fantastic contracts, employing over 750 people who were top technicians. I was very impressed by the ESB's work there. It implemented an account system in Malaysia for its government, yet here, in the ESB's own country, as a semi-State company, it could not come to some terms to ensure that it secured a contract as lucrative as the roll-out of broadband. In the end, if the ESB made money from it, the dividend would come back to the State. From my perspective, it was a win-win scenario. The current proposal, costing up to €3 billion, is a lose-lose scenario because Granahan McCourt will own all the infrastructure in 25 years and the State will not own anything. We do not know the cost per individual or the cost of the subsidy. I am lucky that I have privilege here, which is brilliant. I have far more faith in the ESB to do a job on behalf of the State than I would have in American venture capitalists coming in to do it. I do not know how Granahan McCourt will install the wires without working with the ESB or Eir. It has no physical structure. Why would the ESB walk away in September 2017, even when it is making substantial investments and making money all over the world? That decision surprises me and I cannot understand it.