Results 14,601-14,620 of 32,569 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will know that a detailed letter was sent back by the Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Mr. Mark Griffin. As to whether compensation would be due at that point, my judgment is that it would probably be unlikely if we were stepping in to acquire the network, but I will revert to the committee with a more detailed note on the issue.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I read the transcript of the Deputy's dialogue with the Minister on this matter. The Minister told the Deputy that there would be current expenditure commitments, primarily in respect of oversight of the contract, that his Department would have to meet. He outlined the figures for the Deputy.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is not the contract figure. It is up to €3 billion, as I have described.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct, but for other reasons I have become highly sceptical of projects that have the lure of being off the State's balance sheet.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: To answer each of the Deputy's questions in turn, the officials whom he has justifiably praised for their work are the same ones who are making the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment's recommendation that we go ahead with this approach. They are the same people who have weighed all of the different approaches and reached the conclusion that this is the best way to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy would tell me that we were seeking to own an extension to a broadband network that we did not own, which would mean that the very risk all of the committee's members are justifiably raising with me would sit with the State. We would carry all of it. Part of the questions colleagues are understandably putting to me has to do with the risk involved. If this asset was to be State...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate the Deputy's acknowledgment that fibre is the appropriate technological choice. He is correct. Various participants in the bidding process decided what the right technology was. With regard to the upside sitting with the company, it will do so if the technology still has economic value in the future. All the downsides will also sit with it, however. Regarding the risks, the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: On the various points the Deputy made, the equity contribution is in line with that in public private partnerships. The reason the subsidy is being front-loaded is to try to ensure the infrastructure is provided quickly. On the point on the rate of return, I was not aware that the Deputy raised this with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton. I...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The key points in the involvement of my Department in this process up to this point were between December 2015 and July 2016, when we made a decision on a gap-funding model, across 2018, when there was considerable engagement on the cost-benefit analysis, and towards the latter part of 2018, when the need to examine alternatives became apparent. My Department was heavily involved in the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: No, that was under the current Government. It was a decision that was made by the former Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, and me.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As I said, when the decision was made in the 1990s, I was one of those who questioned whether it was right for the State to own a company like that. I am making this point in a non-partisan manner because there have been many debates over who owns what. The point that we do not own the existing network is fundamental to understanding the difficulties that we have in extending it. That, in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It was looked at and we did have a discussion. It was one of the options we looked at. One of the issues that emerged in the consideration of all of this is the cost involved and the fact a portion of Eir changed ownership, and the cost of that was in the many billions of euro when it happened. We would then face the challenge that we would have looked to acquire Eir, which would mean we...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: None that I could credibly identify. If we were credibly identifying one that could have been better than the outcome of the process the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment had led, that would have had a big effect on the decision we have now.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Fibre optic was the preferred technology from the last group of bidders that were involved in this. The tendering process was technology neutral and they identified fibre optic.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: This goes to a question Deputy Eamon Ryan asked me on whether I have an estimate as to what the level of profitability will be. That depends on a contract that has yet to be signed. I will say two things about it. First, I do not believe this is an entity that will be profitable for a long period, based on the figures that are there. Second, the scale of the company we were talking about...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The cost of this is borne by the consortium but, of course, it gets a subsidy from the State to do it.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Six elements, in particular, were excluded. The first was the benefit that might accrue to citizens in terms of education. The second was what might happen as a result of an acceleration in home working. The third was the benefits of social inclusion, which are obviously inherently difficult to monetise, while the fourth was what would happen as a result of less pressure on transport. The...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: To respond to the Deputy's first question, the ministerial handbook and its implementation is a matter for the Minister of the day and the Taoiseach. As Deputy Burton knows, the circumstances were that the then Minister, Deputy Naughten, resigned and ceased to hold office after a number of issues regarding this process developed around a year ago. In answering the Deputy's question as to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As to who Mr. Smyth did or did not speak to, I do not have that information but I am sure the Minister, Deputy Bruton, or Mr. Smyth himself can ascertain it and share it with the Deputy. Regarding the consultancy fees on this project to date, that is not information I have to hand but I will get it for the committee.