Results 3,961-3,980 of 5,632 for speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The returns for the shorter-term investors and longer-term investors are extremely different. That difference could be 7% or 8%.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I appreciate that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I do not have a difficulty with shareholders investing money and getting a return; it is a commercial venture. I am asking questions around the financial stability of the model. We spoke earlier about an idea becoming a reality. It seems there was a hurry to put some structures in place to get shorter-term investors in, in the first instance. That is why we are asking questions.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: We want this project delivered commercially and for the State. That is fine. These are important questions for us to ask.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: That is a point of difference because I would not have contended it was as risky an investment as perhaps was suggested in the first instance. It seemed to me an obvious project with a State-backed contract for a major commercial opportunity. It was underpinned, as the Chairman said, very strongly. It did not have a high risk profile. That is as may be. That is a difference of opinion...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the witnesses for the information.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank Mr. Griffin and his colleagues for coming in. It is good to see them again. There are a few things I would like to cover. We had a good discussion this morning with NBI and Deputies were able to ask questions about delivery. We now know there is a small number of connections relative to the number of passings, which is less than it might have been. We have heard about that. How...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: It would be fair to say there is quite a lot of fibre in urban areas already-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: -----so there is quite a lot of opportunity provided by that. I regard it as a double-edged balance and it would be useful to go through it in that way. What is the source? If the project was underestimated to that scale, to what is that attributable? Is it because of the quality of the design? Who oversaw that? What is the source of that underestimation?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I do not mean to interrupt but Mr. Griffin has said that already. Was it not possible, for example, to do a random sampling exercise?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The results were at variance with the random sampling exercise. Was there a difficulty with the design of the random sampling exercise? I am curious about how far divergent it appears to be. We are talking about real delays in the design, both the high-level design and, as we discussed this morning, the low-level design, that are at variance with the assessment that had been done. I am...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: You do-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am familiar with research methods and I know how to conduct random sample designs. Whoever designed that random sample and whoever was responsible for it designed and executed a sample that is at significant variance with the outcome, because there have been significant delays as a consequence of finding things in lots of places that were not expected.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes, and I am asking who is responsible or to what that is attributable.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: That is the question I have asked several times.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The answer to my question about what the delay is attributable to, which I asked some time ago, is that the Department will come to that when it does its review and will assess that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Has the Department had a conversation directly with Eir about the delays?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes, he updated the Dáil on that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I have two questions on that. In that meeting, was it clear that Eir and-or other contractors - I do not want to limit it to Eir - received what they needed to be able to price and build? Did they get that in a timely way?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Back to the review.