Results 31,001-31,020 of 32,983 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: I fully take on board the point on the operating profit of the unit itself in Ireland and I very much hope it is successful in dealing with the difficulty it faces. I am sure it will be. To return to my earlier question, notwithstanding the facts Mr. Chisholm has laid out on the table, Eircom is facing a degree of financial difficulty and is making great efforts to respond to it. How...

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Has the regulator identified any such negative?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: That was my main question and I thank Mr. Chisholm for answering it.

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Could Mr. Nolan give some consideration to getting a better analysis of this issue on indebtedness and arrears on utility bills because in our role as public representatives we come across so many symbols of the difficulty in which people find themselves, whether it be not having a job or not being able to pay a mortgage payment? One of the wretched ones is meeting somebody whose home is...

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Even if we cannot get information on the social profile, a better analysis of what is the issue of arrears or indebtedness will help us head off or deal with the issue of disconnections in the future. Even if there is not a legal obligation on the companies, there are other wider obligations that they might consider in supplying that information to Mr. Nolan.

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Okay, that is fine. The broad point regarding indebtedness and arrears stands on its own and would be a helpful contribution to tackling a horrific problem that we all want to see dealt with. Mr. Nolan responded well to many of the points Deputy O'Donnell made on the issue of price increases. An issue I want to look at is the relationship between the profitability of the companies and the...

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: How would that stack up versus where the company was in previous years, as a trend?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Did its profitability not fall a bit last year but its dividend payment went up, or something like that? It made a profit of €90 million. ESB is a vast organisation. It is known as the ESB Group, with many different segments. Could Mr. Nolan attribute a profit figure to the part of its business that supplies electricity?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: The metric for profitability of an organisation such as the ESB is still hundreds of millions of euro.

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Companies.

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: When Mr. Nolan is making a pricing decision, what reference, if any, is paid to the profitability of the organisation that is submitting the application?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: There is an evident inconsistency between the fact that customers are being disconnected in the State and many are having to ration their electricity and gas, when the utilities that are providing them are generating very high levels of profit. I would certainly ask that when looking at future pricing decisions in the context of the terrible environment that we are in, Mr. Nolan give as much...

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Sure.

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Mr. Nolan for his answers. I want to turn quickly to Mr. Chisholm. Many of his areas have already been covered. I will focus briefly on the status of Eircom and the relationship between Eircom and Mr. Chisholm's organisation. I understand that Eircom was designated quite recently as a universal service provider, USP. For my benefit, could Mr. Chisholm explain what that means?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: The witnesses are all very welcome and I thank them for their contributions so far. Deputy O'Donnell covered much of the area on which I was going to focus. I wish to follow up with Mr. Nolan on a few points he touched upon. I ask him to give us again the figures for disconnections for this year and the corresponding ones for last year.

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: I ask Mr. Nolan to repeat those.

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: The quarterly figures Mr. Nolan gave earlier were for quarter 1 and quarter 2 of 2011 and 2012. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Does Mr. Nolan have any quarterly figures for 2012?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: Is this for electricity?

Public Accounts Committee: Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011 (17 Jan 2013)

Paschal Donohoe: I will get gas also, but for electricity I am trying to get a grip on the most recent trend and many numbers have been provided. I will restate them to make sure I have the right ones. For electricity for quarter 1 and quarter 2 of 2011 it was 4,177 then moving to 2,963. Is that correct?