Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, I certainly do not. They way we approached this was by way of a competitive dialogue. The State did not have a firm view as to what the best technology or best approach would be, so a competitive dialogue was held. State companies, including the ESB, entered into that competitive dialogue, but two bidders, as the Deputy indicated, dropped out at a certain stage. Five started, three got to the bidding stage, two dropped out and one remained. Because there was only one bidder left, we applied a much more rigorous due diligence. We went through every element of its costing and model and we brought in experts to assist us to evaluate those. We applied the strictest terms to doing that. In the UK, virtually all the roll-out of broadband has been with just one bidder at the end of the procurement process. This has not been unusual and we have applied vigorous due diligence to deal with it.

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