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

We considered the option of breaking this up into smaller contracts or smaller areas. That was among the alternatives that were assessed. The detailed analysis of that option has been published. It was found that a single contract that treated the country as a unit was more cost-effective and that greater economies of scale would emerge in delivering it that way. That alternative was very carefully considered.

Regarding the assumptions under which the NDP was drawn up, I note that the NDP contained no figure for the national broadband plan, as the Deputy knows. That was because a procurement process was underway and a figure was not known.

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