Results 4,521-4,540 of 6,170 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: I am speaking specifically about the opportunity in terms of delivering more quickly, specifically where there is already fibre in place. Is it in active consideration of the Department, in the meeting that Mr. Griffin described to the committee, to release areas potentially for more quick delivery?

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: When will that be completed?

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: Is "very shortly" in quarter 1 or quarter 2?

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 will come back to it so, maybe with the review.

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: On the funding side of things, I want to look from the committee's perspective at how this is being considered by the Department. There is clearly the opportunity to change shareholders. I note, in his statement, Mr. Griffin states that the Minister has the right of consent under the contract in respect of changes of ownership. That is something we discussed with NBI this morning. Are...

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: What I am hearing is - absent that mark of criminality-----

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: -----or equivalent - there is no other circumstances in which they would not give consent.

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 why I am asking, exactly. Essentially, what you do not want is that it is a fait accompli.

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: With the original contractor, is there a role for the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, in assessing any of that or is it exclusively for the Department, or did that happen at an earlier contractual stage? Was the NTMA involved?

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: Okay. This morning, we heard from NBI that it has as an internal auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC. They also work for the Department. Is there any concern in relation to 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: Just to clarify, data with the committee show that the Department has paid PwC close to €3 million for consultancy functions.

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: When did that cease?

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 there been no crossover where we both had the same advisers?

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 fine. I thank Mr. Griffin. The other question I wanted to ask was in relation to joining up and perhaps Mr. Griffin can explain this to me in a little more detail. We are paying NBI a subvention essentially to pass the houses. Let us talk then about the connections. Clearly, it is up to the commercial operators to connect as well. I ask Mr. Griffin to talk to me about who pays...

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 €600 million is a subset of the overall.

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: Does that go to the commercial connectors?

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: Is that universally applied to all of the connections for the homeowners?

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: Will they all receive a subvention of some kind, both on the laying of the fibre and the connection?

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: Okay. That is fine. I thank Mr. Mulligan. I have one final question. Returning to the financial stability piece, the reason we are interested in it is because it is such a change in ownership and financial structure potentially. From the Department's perspective, does it have any guarantee? This is why I am asking about the implications of investors not coming in. What happens if it...

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: Neither do I, but it is worth asking the question.