Results 14,781-14,800 of 20,100 for speaker:Brian Stanley
- Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Aid Service Reform (28 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: 141. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if his Department will be carrying out a review of the threshold for eligibility for legal aid services (details supplied); and his plans to raise this threshold. [22349/19]
- Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Telecommunications Infrastructure (28 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: 343. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to use a cable (details supplied) to benefit communities across the west of Ireland. [22286/19]
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: My first question is on the overall financing of the project. The Minister referred to projected growth but we are also aware of risks including the corporation tax yield from multinational companies and Brexit. The projected growth may not work out. A reply to a parliamentary question tabled by my colleague, Deputy Jonathan O'Brien, on 21 May said that it was estimated that the national...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: I ask the Minister to deal with this issue and the fact that taxpayers are front-loading the funding.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: Could I just ask for clarification on something?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: Obviously, the Minister cannot magic up income to fund capital spending. That money must come from somewhere and must come from State income - taxation and other sources of income. How is the Minister going to spend money twice? If he is going to use this pot of money for the national broadband scheme to subsidise this private operation, which the State will not own, he must do one of two...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: What is the Minister's intention? I think the Minister would say neither of them.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: We have been trying to follow the process and read what has been happening behind the scenes for the past three years. The past few weeks have seen startling revelations. What we have been told publicly by Ministers and so on has not matched what has been happening behind the scenes, some of which we suspected. I wish to ask about governance. I would like the delegates to keep their...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: It is a straightforward question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: With respect, they are in place and are appointed by the company. I asked this at the private meeting in the Department the other day. They are appointed by the consortium. If they are appointed by the consortium, they are there to represent the interests of the consortium. If I was part of the consortium and I put eight representatives on the board, I would be clear about who they were...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: I am asking the Department officials what they have at this stage from Granahan McCourt and the consortium in terms of guarantees that the money is in place. Is it simply a letter of commitment that the Department has?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: Is that all the Department has?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: Is that guarantee written into the contract?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: Is it at this point? Is it written into the contract or draft documents today?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: I know it is not, but is it written in? The Department is drafting it at the moment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: We have a complex process judging from the diagram the Department officials produced the other day. It is overseen by the board of National Broadband Ireland, which has one member representing the taxpayer. We have a letter. The only thing we have from a private investor is a letter of commitment at this stage in the process. We are three years into it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: I remember the Department officials and the Minister telling us that they had John Laing and SSE on board as well as all the financial firepower behind the project. Now, it has all evaporated like a ball of smoke. What we are left with now is a letter from a new company, one we are only hearing about this week. Those are the facts. Can we move on?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: Two companies pulled out in 2017. After that the Department drew up two contingency plans. I want to move on to that. In his opening statement, Mr. Ó hÓbáin pointed out that the Department investigated the need for a plan B. The Department published two contingency reports, one in 2018 and another in 2019. Both reports concluded there were viable State-led alternatives...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: We now know that the chosen model requires a subsidy to the tune of €1 billion for the rental of the poles. The Minister said it would cost €1 billion but Mr. Ó hÓbáin said today that it would cost €0.9 billion over 25 years in rent. If the ESB model had been used, the infrastructure would have been in place. The taxpayers will subsidise the project to...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (22 May 2019)
Brian Stanley: I asked a straight question. Am I correct?