Results 12,821-12,840 of 26,396 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Is Mr. Griffin concerned that we are left with only one bidder in the process?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I understand all of that and I do not want to cut Mr. Griffin short.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I understand that but my point still holds. We have had to examine how the tender process works in respect of many different organisations. NAMA was a recent one where we looked at tendering processes for large projects. My point is that if there is insufficient competitive tension, it is not the ideal solution so having one bidder - one consortium - in the process is not healthy. Did we...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Can I stop Mr. Griffin there? All of that information is very enlightening but reading between the lines in terms of what Mr. Griffin has already said, the Department has some general idea as to why it was reduced down to one bidder. It is because the contract is huge and the company would need to have the expertise to do it. In addition, it is possible that taking out the 300,000 homes...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Mr. Griffin said that the European Commission ruled in terms of the 300,000 homes and businesses. Can he provide the committee with the-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: What was the cost? When the national broadband plan was conceived, the figure was 800,000 homes and businesses. In 2016, the current tender process started for the 500,000 plus homes and businesses. What was the original cost for the 800,000 homes and businesses?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Why were they only indicative figures at that point?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: So that was for the full 800,000 homes and businesses at that time. When the Department was looking at the 500,000 plus homes and businesses and the current tender in 2016, what was the estimated cost of that at the time?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Why not? So the Department had no idea how much it was going to cost.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Is that because of commercial sensitivity?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: So the Department would have had a cost.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Does the Department know how much it will cost at the moment.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: The Department does not yet have the final figures.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Mr. Griffin does not have them.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Even at this point when-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: That makes it very difficult for us. I can understand why Mr. Griffin might not be able to share it with us but for him to not have it at this point strikes me as odd.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Is the figure of €3 billion that is being floated-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Mr. Griffin cannot comment on costs. It goes back to what was said earlier about 5G - that there will be post-project reviews. I imagine that we will come back here at some point and evaluate this. I hope we will not be dealing with a special report from the Comptroller and Auditor General and we are taken back to this exchange when we asked about the costs at that time and were told we...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I do not get that from Mr. Griffin's response but I will accept it nonetheless. He was asked earlier about the meetings that took place between the former Minister and Mr. McCourt. It would be unfair of me or anybody else to expect Mr. Griffin to speak for the former Minister because he cannot do so but Mr. Griffin is the person who signs the cheque for all of this. There is a perception,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I did not say that was my view. Again, I do not want to put words in Mr. Griffin's mouth so I ask him not to put words in mine. I ask Mr. Griffin to bear with me for a moment because he has been a bit tetchy in some of his responses. We are putting questions genuinely. This is not funny.