Results 11,101-11,120 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I appeal to everyone in this House to take a bit of time, a few months, like we did, to see if the alternatives really stack up and not to rule out supporting this proposal just yet.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We can sign this contract and we can make this happen.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: If we do not sign this contract, it may never happen.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: A commercial interest has shown an interest in doing this, namely, MBI-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----which is now the preferred bidder. ESB, working with Vodafone, made a bid but pulled out. They said they could not make a business case for it. This cannot be done without a massive subsidy. It is not realistic now-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----for the Government to give to a company that pulled out of the process a massive commercial subsidy and somehow pretend that is not state aid. That is not legitimate.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We have the Attorney General's advice on this and there were consultations with the European Commission on this. It is not a position that we can hand to an undertaking, even a State-owned enterprise like ESB, a massive subsidy without a process and without a tender operation.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: An alternative option, for example, was setting up a new State entity.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The difficulties with that are the difficulties that arose when did that in the past with Irish Water. Enormous costs and difficulties and delays arise in the establishment of a new State company. We would be doing Irish Water all over again. There would be further delays. There would still have to be a procurement process in terms of getting access to Eir's infrastructure and in terms of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ComReg is the price regulator for telecoms in the State and has a role in capping prices. The Deputy may not agree but I see this as a Labour Party project, as well as a project of this Government. The Deputy's party and its Ministers were at the centre of making the project a reality, with a decision in 2012 to go to tender and to ask public and private companies on the open market to bid....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Subsequently, in December 2015, his successor in the Department, Alex White, also of the Labour Party, examined five different options of ownership and decided to narrow them down to just two. One was the concession model, the other the gap-funded model. The decision to go for the gap-funded model was made by this Government but the decision to narrow down the options to just two was made...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The poles and the ducts belong to Eircom because they were sold off 20 years ago by a Fianna Fáil-led Government.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and why in a previous Government Fine Gael and the Labour Party went down this road in the first place.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I have already answered the question on capacity. In some ways, something the former Minister, Deputy Naughten, said last week summed it up for me. He said that if we sign this contract in the next few months rural broadband will be delivered and we will connect 1.1 million homes, farms and businesses throughout the country but if we do not sign the contract it may never happen. He is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: If it does not happen this way, if the roll-out is delayed or the take-up is slower than projections it is the investor that will have to put in the extra equity and money and not the State. Our risk is capped and that of the investor is not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am confident that National Broadband Ireland has the capacity to deliver. If it does not, there are protections in the contract. If the company does not deliver, if it seeks an increased subsidy or if it fails to meet certain milestones, the State can terminate the contract and take over the network. I am confident, therefore, that it has the capacity to deliver but I also understand...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Other bidders, such as Eir, submitted initial bids for similar sums, but the fact that there was only one bidder at the end of the process should tell us something.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: In commercial terms, the project is not enormously attractive.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There is risk attached. In this system and approach, the State is not taking on all the risk. A private sector operator is bringing to the table money and expertise and sharing the risk. There is a risk, with no guarantee of commercial return. It is important to understand that is how the project has been established. As a Government, we have a simple choice about whether we sign the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----in every county. All 26 counties will see connections in the second year. A company is willing to do it, we have the money available and we know we can achieve 100% coverage. If we go back to square one we will not know any of this. We will be saying to rural Ireland that it has waited too long and we will make it wait longer. That would be wrong. Later in the debate I will be happy...