Results 16,201-16,220 of 34,135 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is an ongoing procurement process. I do not believe we would have any significant commitment to the bidder until the procurement process has concluded.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I think I am answering the question with the best knowledge that is available to me.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will have to come back to the Chairman with that.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: No, it was on work done by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment as well as my Department.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I guess the key part is the insights used in the entire procurement process informed the options that were put to me. Anyway, I know from the fact that my Department was involved in this that we formed independent views regarding the pros and cons of the different options.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: No, that is not correct. What happened is that the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and then my Department were involved in this at three different points. We looked at the policy options available that were different from the course of action we were on.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Those policy options and our ability to implement them were informed by our experience of the procurement process, as Deputy Cowen has acknowledged. It was not the case that the bidder was able to influence the other options. What would have been the benefit to the bidder in doing that?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: We examined all the different policies that could have been alternatively pursued. Are they as detailed as the final proposition in front of us?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: No, they are not, because this has followed a tendering process. However, they are sufficiently detailed to form a view on whether they would work.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: No, I disagree with that. They are all options laid out in the document I referred to earlier.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I guess the answer to that unfolds if we look at the document we published. It goes through the alternative options available. I do not believe we could describe those options as high level. We went through the different options open to the Government, including using the ESB and purchasing other companies. On the basis of that, an evaluation has been made.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I categorically reject the idea that a Government or Department would allow alternative options to be generated by someone involved in the bidding process. That is wrong. As the Deputy said, why would that be in the interests of the other bidders? Why would an entire Department overseeing the process, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, require a bidder to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is certainly a consideration in state aid rules.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I said it was a consideration.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I ask the Deputy to, please, allow me to answer the question. The other factor is we are pre-eminent. To ensure compatibility with State and EU rules, we would have to go through an entire procurement process again. We would have to debate again the same cost issues we are discussing in the context of a State agency.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not aware of the Croatian model.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I can certainly make myself aware of it, I am sure the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Environment would be aware of such a model.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The role of the Secretary General of my Department is to provide advice for the Government on decisions made. It is up to me to make decisions and be politically accountable for them. That is what I am doing and what I will do in the future. That is the way our system of government and our representative democracy works. In the publication of documents there is engagement pretty much on...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The flip side of what the Deputy has just said is that by the time the point to which she referred is reached, some 500,000 homes will have been connected to broadband. In addition, it is a 25-year contract, to be followed by a further period of ten years. The majority of the money to which the Deputy referred will be used to pay for the entirety of the contract and the availability of the...