Results 3,361-3,380 of 5,120 for speaker:Joe O'Reilly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: It is good that we have nailed the concept that it has some intrinsic value. Assuming the high level of take-up outlined by Deputy Dooley, do the witnesses accept that the clawback will achieve the taxpayers' requirements, as happened in the UK? When Deputy Dooley was out of the room I made that the point that in the UK whereas BT anticipated 20% take-up of the service, it was 40%. In his...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: Yes, but the infrastructure will be continually renewed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: The operator might also want to have something to sell.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: What is the alternative?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: We can all pose questions such as what happens if the Ice Age returns or there is a tornado or an earthquake this evening. I am interested in knowing the alternative to using the Eir infrastructure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: It should be used and that is what the contractor is doing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: Dr. Palcic's criticisms of the project are criticisms that anyone could make. I am not suggesting he does not have an expertise in this area - far from it - but his criticisms are ones which the man in the bar or anyone could make. For example, the man in the bar could say this will not work, we should retain ownership of the network because it will be great asset, take-up will be low, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: What is Dr. Palcic's assessment of the clawback? Does he think it has enough teeth and will it work?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: Would that be effective?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: It would hardly want to walk away from a good product. Nobody is going to want to do that with an asset of this value. If the operator does want to walk away, it cannot flip the asset under the contract. Assuming that after a set number of years it could flip it, the company buying it would have a commercial imperative and an imperative to its bank to keep it going. One could make the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: With respect, this is core to it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: They are core questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: Taxpayers want to know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: They deliver an incentive----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: Somebody purchasing this company would be similarly regulated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: I will come back in later. Deputy O'Connell asked the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: This will be my concluding question or comment. Given the number of unknowns and variables, including the vagueness, which is reasonable in some respects, around the asset's value after 25 years, the likely uptake, and whether the asset will be stress tested or worn out by the company, is it not too emphatic for Professor Reeves to say that "the procurement approach adopted has not satisfied...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: But there could not be competition when the other bidders pulled out of the process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: Have the witnesses costed that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Joe O'Reilly: I will ask a brief question before we abandon this. A great deal of the information has come out. Let us say that the witnesses' hypothesis or proposition is that the State-led model would be better. Have they evaluated that model in terms of the cost inputs required to reach the sector of the community that we are trying to reach, the longevity of maintenance and so on? Have the...