Results 8,261-8,280 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

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)

Catherine Murphy: We will probably come back to the Department on that later. Are the funds committed secure? Is there a legal contract? Some of the funds look like reasonably short-term loans that are expensive and have an end date. Have they been secured or can these investors withdraw? What are the circumstances in which they can withdraw?

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)

Catherine Murphy: So there is a legal process.

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)

Catherine Murphy: And they are signed up. What investors are ultimately acting as the guarantor?

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)

Catherine Murphy: Is that built into the risk?

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)

Catherine Murphy: This was debated at length over recent years. Before the contract was signed, the expectation was that there would be a high-level cash investment in terms of NBI, which was the only entity at the end with the only tender document. A point of criticism was that it was not possible to challenge it. I do not believe there was an expectation there would be a lot of fluidity regarding the...

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)

Catherine Murphy: This is a guaranteed amount by the State. Is €2.6 billion the absolute upper limit, according to Mr. Hendrick's understanding?

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)

Catherine Murphy: I am still intrigued by these very high interest rates. What other construction projects in this country would the witnesses compare this to, in terms of risk?

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)

Catherine Murphy: I just need a short reply. Perhaps Mr. Kelly could give me one or two projects.

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)

Catherine Murphy: When was that built?

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)

Catherine Murphy: What were the interest rates like then?

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)

Catherine Murphy: No. What were the interest rates then? They would not have been comparable to now.

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)

Catherine Murphy: There are negative interest rates at this stage, so it is incredibly low. That is where the 12.5% or somewhere close to 12%-----

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)

Catherine Murphy: The State is securing them.

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)

Catherine Murphy: There is a guarantee that there is €2.6 billion available for projects. I am looking at an academic paper on the matter. It is estimated to be €5,500 per household. That is the highest cost for this kind of project, right across the European Union, by distance.

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)

Catherine Murphy: Quantifiable risk would have been difficult to assess in advance of the project. Presumably, it is better known now what those risks are. Have those risks exceeded what was expected, are they at what was expected, or are they below what was 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)

Catherine Murphy: Mr. Hendrick would say that the quantifiable risks are probably the same or less.

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)

Catherine Murphy: If they are the same or less, it is kind of difficult to figure out why the loans are so expensive, because one can quantify the return on 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)

Catherine Murphy: On the very complicated corporate structure, we know that Metallah is the key entity. My understanding is that €98 million was paid in loans from investors to Metallah, and that €11.8 million was paid in interest on those loans. Is that correct?

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)

Catherine Murphy: Okay. That money has been paid in without interest being paid to date. Out of the money that has come in from investors, €32.7 million was paid to NBI Bidco. Was that in relation to the pre-contract costs in getting to tender stage? Was that paid by the State? Did a bill come in and was it paid? How was that paid?

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)

Catherine Murphy: Section 6.3 of NBI's briefing document states: Granahan McCourt incurred significant costs during the bid stage ... It is ordinary course for successful bidders in procurement processes to recoup bid costs as part of the implementation of the successful bid. Is there an expectation that it will be recouped?