Results 6,901-6,920 of 7,777 for speaker:Joe Costello

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: Was it coming on board as a sort of a ready-up to get Bytel across the line? How could it leave? Did it not have a contract as well? How could it just step in and step out so quickly after the contract was given to Bytel?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: What legal status has that? That is not actionable.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: It seems very strange. Was any explanation given as to why a semi-State company related to Bord Gáis would have come in on a major contract and then, a month after it was granted and after the hard work was done, it should suddenly leave?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: Whatever that means.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: There was prior work done, then a month after it got the contract, when the hard work was done, it stepped away.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: It must have come back in after the initial rejection of Bytel. It was a contributory factor in the final success.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: There is a serious question mark there. Has anybody asked Aurora to give an explanation as to why it tendered for this project, became semi-partners with Bytel and then did not pursue it? That is the key area in that everything goes wrong as soon as it pulls out.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: The Department could still pose that question.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: That is the point. Once Aurora pulled out, as Mr. Griffin said, the project had fundamentally changed but no new letter of offer was presented. If there was a fundamental change in the terms of the project, why were the alarm bells not going off? Why is it that somebody in the Department or, indeed, somebody in the SEUPB, would not insist that the new terms were reflected in a letter of...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: Was the SEUPB aware that Aurora was gone and there was a new partner in place?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: It did fundamentally change the project.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: I ask Mr. Griffin why the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and DETI gave those assurances to the SEUPB if everything had changed fundamentally.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: That should have been obvious. It does not require rocket science to realise that fundamental changes had taken place and a new letter of offer was required to ensure eligibility in terms of being able to draw down the funds. Instead of going south, the project was going west and north west. Essentially, it was a different project from the one for which the funds had initially been drawn down.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: That is fine, but it is the extensions and the additions.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: Would Mr. Griffin agree that it is unacceptable that a second letter of offer was not drawn up?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: I wish to raise one last point relating to the infamous Nortel racks and the fact that they were not eligible to be purchased under the letter of offer in the first place. The racks were obsolete. A sum of €1.3 million was paid for them, even though they were only valued at €30,000. The racks were never used and yet the money was paid up quickly. How could something like...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: So it was the two implementation bodies?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: They submitted paper work to verify that they were satisfied that this was money that was being spent properly. They would have been contacting the Department about the draw down of the grants.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: The Department would have been the channel for the drawing down of the grants.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Joe Costello: Therefore, the two bodies would have given confirmation that they were satisfied that this was verified and that it was proper to draw down €1.3 million for obsolete equipment that was never used and that was not eligible for purchase under the letter of offer in the first place.