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

Any state aid process must be done where the commercial sector cannot deliver it. If the commercial sector states it can deliver part of that, under a state aid process, one must allow access to that part and state aid can only be provided in the area which is not commercial.

National Broadband Ireland will be guaranteed access to infrastructure and the price at which they get that access will be regulated by ComReg. It is for ComReg to determine the price at which that is made available.

No contract would be signed if there was any question on this bidder's ability to fulfil the financial commitments of this process. It is absolutely a requirement to fulfil that commitment. As the Deputy knows, one feature of Eir's suggested alternative model is that there would be no such obligation on Eir to demonstrate financial commitment. The way that Eir proposed to do it more cheaply than its €2.7 billion offer was by abandoning all of the protections that were included, namely, the clawbacks, penalty clauses, performance requirements, distinct governance and upfront capital. The Deputy would be saying to me that all of those things were essential to show the State was protected and Eir is seeking to abandon them.

There were 200 hours of discussions with Eir regarding such protections and the State explained why those provisions were there. Eir decided then that if it was to fulfil those requirements it would be bidding €2.7 billion. It then withdrew. The company had ample opportunity to offer alternatives within the process but it withdrew from that process. Eir cannot now re-enter the process at this stage.

See this speech in context