Results 13,021-13,040 of 26,610 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: At one point was it greater than that figure and in the region of 800,000 households?

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 is what I asked. I am talking about the origins of the process and nothing else. The figure was 800,000, from which 300,000 households were taken as part of a separate solution. Will Mr. Griffin talk us through what happened

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: Were they the households that were more commercially viable?

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 might perhaps come at it from a different philosophical and ideological viewpoint in that I do not think the State should intervene only when the market fails. It could have intervened much more robustly. Perhaps it is because we left the market to deal with the issue for too long that we are in this mess. Notwithstanding that, arguably the 300,000 households that were more commercially...

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: Yes.

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 am putting it to Mr. Griffin as somebody who-----

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 am not saying Mr. Griffin's responses are tetchy, but I am saying we have put these questions because the Department is writing a cheque on behalf taxpayers and we are here to make sure that in writing it, the right decisions are being made and that we are more focused on the process. When I am looking at it, I can see that we are left with a tendering process which is difficult and mired...

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: Exactly. How many times has that consortium changed its composition?

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: Give us a little of the history because that is also part of the problem. The company has changed composition and ownership many times. It is almost unrecognisable from its original manifestation.

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: In general terms will do.

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: Was SSE not the main financial backer of the consortium?

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 it gone?

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 would certainly accept that it has changed.

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 a problem? Does Mr. Griffin see it as an issue?

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?