Mr. Mark Griffin:

I acknowledge the Chair's view, but I have two points to make in response. First, concern around value for money does not only sit within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. As the Accounting Officer under the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993, I am and must be concerned about value for money and the management of public moneys that flow through the Vote of my Department. All those aspects were considered.

Second, the State could have sat back and decided not to invest in allocating funding to provide high-speed broadband to every premises in rural Ireland. That was a choice. We manage risk in the Department. We have a risk management policy and a risk appetite statement, and we understand the boundaries within which we should operate. The key aspect of this context is that it is not about avoiding risk, but about understanding the impact of risk on what we are trying to do and whether those risks are being managed. In the context of all the work we have done and the protections we have built into the contract, we are satisfied that the risk is manageable.