Results 1,961-1,980 of 11,050 for speaker:Timmy Dooley

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: When was that information supposed to come? Was it at a point when the submissions came in? How could it be that much out of step? Maybe it was not that much out of step. What was the nature of the gap between what KPMG projected as the Department's budget model and what was actually submitted by the two bidders? What was the scale of the difference between the two?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Would it be fair to say the Department's budget model was of the order of €500 million?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: It was a higher number and the €1 billion on top of that was the order of the difference.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: It seems to be a considerable difference, considering the company's experience in Northern Ireland, the north of England, Australia and elsewhere. Does Ms Connolly consider that the company has failed in its advice in that regard? Based on its experience, it was not able to get a closer analysis of the costs involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: The industry view over time was that the Department had budgeted a set amount of money and there was a belief among bidders that this was all that was available. There is certainly a very strong view that SIRO pulled out because it did not think it was possible to put a business model together based on what the State would provide by way of subsidy. As a result, we wound up without true...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Does Ms Connolly not accept that the apportionment of risk, which would have been a variable in the event of there being competition, was effectively compromised? There was only one bidder and the State, depending on whether a contract was ever signed, appears to be carrying the vast majority of the risk. Granahan McCourt's proposal, as we understand, based on what the Taoiseach has told us...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Yes, that brings me to the private sector bidder. Where is the risk being transferred to? What entity carries the risk?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: In transferring risk to an entity with a considerable reputation, does Ms Connolly believe Granahan McCourt has the weight of reputation that can carry the risk?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Will Ms Connolly take us through the changes in character of the bidder from its first iteration to what the contract will now be signed with? Has Ms Connolly a detailed map of the changes and why she believes they were necessary over that period?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Is it not the case that Granahan McCourt from the start had little or no standing of its own and relied on others? In the first instance, it relied on John Laing, SSE and Enet. All of those entities withdrew from the Granahan McCourt consortium. At some point a company called McCourt Global LLC was introduced or presented some letter of undertaking to get through a certain phase of the bid...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Is Ms Connolly not concerned that there have been so many changes? Is she not concerned that companies of considerable international standing have not remained part of this consortium?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: That is important and I thank Ms Connolly for the clarity. It is a complex project and the companies that pulled out are well used to dealing with complex infrastructural projects of scale around the world. The only company that does not have competence in dealing with such projects is Granahan McCourt Dublin (Ireland) Limited.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: That is on the back of other companies that have jockeyed in and out at a rate of knots.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: I will move to the next matter Ms Connolly mentioned, namely, the project reappraisal. I cannot understand how Ms Connolly went through a reappraisal of the project. Perhaps it was a separate group within the company. The project reappraisal was carried out in May 2019. Was it carried out by Ms Connolly's team or a separate team?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Ms Connolly's team was reappraising the state of play, effectively. Would it be fair to say Ms Connolly felt somewhat compelled to follow through on what she had proposed in her original documentation, the ownership report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: Did KPMG assess the risk of a failure by Granahan McCourt to meet its contract obligations and the impact that would have on the roll-out of broadband to 542,000 premises throughout the State?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: I accept that the taxpayer is protected in the event of failure. The Department and the Minister have been at pains to point out that no moneys will be transferred until work is completed but I am also mindful of those citizens who are waiting for broadband and how any failure of the company will adversely affect the broadband roll-out period. KPMG examined a number of alternatives and, on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: I thank Ms Connolly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: On the issue of the terminal value, I am a little confused. Ms Connolly did not give a figure in that regard but she seemed to suggest it would be a function of the revenue-generating potential at the end of the 25-year period. The assumption throughout is that by the end of the contract 80% of the people in that intervention area will have signed up at, as we understand it, €30 per...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (5 Jun 2019)

Timmy Dooley: We have been able to make assumptions along the way. We had the regulator before the committee prior to Ms Connolly's coming before us. We know the cost involved. We know what the ducts and poles will cost. There is an assumption that 80% of people will sign up at €30 per premises. Ms Connolly indicated, based on the submissions made by Eir and Granahan McCourt, that she knows all...