Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I asked the Minister of State how he would politically stand over this debacle and the use of the quoted amount of €3 billion of taxpayers' money. Not all of it is necessarily contracted, but there is extra spending, such as on competitive outsourcing, which costs millions of euro. Millions of euro more will probably trip us up. It is interesting that much of the information about corporate structures of this project was not known to us. We now know that there is a network of at least 13 companies across Ireland, Luxembourg and the US. We know that David McCourt's firm only owns approximately 10% of NBI despite all these convoluted corporate structures. The map of the structures for the plan and the companies that are in it puts the London Underground in the ha'penny place. I do not see how the Minister of State can understand it or grasp it. We now know that a vulture fund has invested heavily in it. In its regulatory documents in the US, the vulture fund describes itself as specialising in leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, private credit, distressed investment and collateral loan obligations. This is shameful for the Government.

That is why I am asking the Minister of State the political question again. How can he stand over this? Given that the commercial terms of the contract have been redacted, how can he give any guarantee that the 500,000 premises, including homes and businesses, will have this delivered to them? He just spoke eloquently about the freedom that it will give them and the good future that they will have. How can he guarantee that this will be delivered in ten, 15 or 20 years? The pace is appallingly slow. It is tied up in corporate knots and legalities that would confuse any Minister. The Minister of State should not tell me that he is not confused by it.

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