Results 11,641-11,660 of 20,422 for speaker:Brian Stanley

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)

Brian Stanley: I ask about the overall cost of the project and the breakdown per connection. Figures of approximately €2,000 per connection have been indicated but there is a cost of servicing the overall project of €2.6 billion in State aid and there is also €270 million of investment. Figures this morning indicate almost 30% take-up. We might assume the take-up reaches 40%. If all...

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)

Brian Stanley: It would be €5,000 if everybody took it up and we can do the sums from there. This is relating to the overall cost of the project, which is €2.9 billion. We can divide that by the number of premises to be served, and we can assume 40% of premises will take it up. I hope more premises take it up. If 50% of premises take it up, the cost is €10,000 per connection. Is...

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)

Brian Stanley: It is close to 90%. That would equate to approximately €6,000 per household. Does Mr. Griffin count that as excessive? A "yes" or "no" answer is fine. It would be €6,000 per household with 90% take-up. I would say that is optimistic, but anyway.

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)

Brian Stanley: I understand that. It is a wide gap.

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)

Brian Stanley: Will it be 90%?

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)

Brian Stanley: I understand that. As regards the board of NBI, there are nine people on the board. Granahan McCourt nominates eight of those board members and the Minister, the State, the Department and the taxpayer have one board member. The Minister, the State and the taxpayer are putting up €2.6 billion, while Granahan McCourt is putting up just over €200 million. The highest figure...

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)

Brian Stanley: I understand that. Their loyalty has to be to the company but-----

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)

Brian Stanley: -----there are eight board members nominated by the investor.

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)

Brian Stanley: I welcome the clarification as to who the board member is. She has been there from the start.

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)

Brian Stanley: Does Mr. Griffin have a concern in respect of the fact that crucial decisions would have been made in the lead-up to that time but there was no one at that table representing the State?

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)

Brian Stanley: I am asking a different question. Does Mr. Griffin have concerns in respect of the fact that the one nominee of the Minister was not at that table until July 2020?

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)

Brian Stanley: Critical decisions would have been made in that period.

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)

Brian Stanley: There is a bond of €20 million that was withheld until the end of January or February. Has that bond been released?

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)

Brian Stanley: The bond has been rolled over for 12 months. One of the questions we have tried to tease out several times relates to the reason for going with this model when the contribution from the private investor is so small, at just over 9% of the contribution by the taxpayer, which accounts for in excess of 90%. Why would the Department go with this? We have learned that the investors are getting...

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)

Brian Stanley: The uncertainty is with the State 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)

Brian Stanley: The risk in respect of take-up falls back on the State. The way it is structured, all the investors have to do is to fund a very small portion of the roll-out. Where is the risk to the investors in that regard?

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)

Brian Stanley: The bigger picture is that once they pass the premises, that is their job done with the roll-out of it. That is their job done.

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)

Brian Stanley: The vast bulk of funding has been put up by the State. Well in excess of 90% of the funding had been put up by the State at that stage.

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)

Brian Stanley: A subsidy of 90%.

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)

Brian Stanley: Okay. On 16 April 2019, the then Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform wrote to Mr. Griffin. He opened the letter by stating "Against that background, I feel I must write to [Mr. Griffin] again in relation to the National Broadband Plan". The Secretary General continued: Having expressed our concerns on a number of occasions at this stage in relation to the...