Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I cannot answer all those questions in one minute but I welcome the scrutiny and questions and the requests from the media for further information. I am delighted to answer any question asked to me directly.

One of the stories that appeared last week had the headline, "How a hedge fund quietly took over the National Broadband Plan". The next day, 8 December, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald said in the Dáil that the majority shareholder of the consortium, National Broadband Ireland, is Oak Hill Advisors. Neither of those statements is true. A hedge fund has not quietly taken over the national broadband plan, although I was worried when I read the headline. Naturally, I went to the corporate lawyers and corporate accountants and asked whether there was any truth to the story. As it turns out, the majority share ownership continues as it was on the date of the signing of the contract. The ownership has not changed. If the ownership had changed, it would have required the consent of the Minister. It is not that there is a mistake in the story or some kind of error; it is that the whole thrust of the story, the headline, and repeated elements throughout to the effect that there had been a secret takeover by a hedge fund is simply untrue.

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