Results 19,381-19,400 of 32,978 for speaker:Catherine Connolly

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Can I just deal with that before we go on?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General for the clarity he has provided. It did not offer an opinion but set out the-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: -----obligations under the legislation that is applicable and under the circular that dates back to 2010. Our time is limited. At the previous meeting, I asked who was protecting the public purse and various colleagues, notably Deputy Jonathan O'Brien, took up the issue, which was very helpful. The chairperson of the board did not seem to know who on the board was protecting the public...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: I do not think we should delay witnesses regardless of who they are.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: I want to concur with my colleagues. The report should have been given to us. I am looking at it, and the Chairman has read out that the written consent of Mazars is required. We have the Mazars report in front of us and we are supposed to be talking about it today or another day but nobody else can have it. The word "bizarre" comes to mind-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: -----in respect of this matter. Are we going to pick pieces out of it?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: It is my view that we should hold off and not pick pieces out of it-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: -----but I now have a report before me that I have read, as have my colleagues, under pressure. At the very least, we should not be here wondering about written consent. That should have been done.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: That should have been sorted out when this report came to us. We should have been told that we have the consent from Mazars and we do not need to proceed in a bizarre manner with a report before us that we cannot talk about.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: The Chairman is absolutely right to be cautious. I have underlined the sentence that it written consent must first be obtained. The Chairman has to be cautious but this should have been sorted out by the board that was sending us the report. It should have stated the board had got the consent of the people it commissioned and paid, using taxpayers' money, that we could now use it and that...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: On some of the minutes, it is obviously a minefield but it has been pointed out to the secretariat that some pages are missing in the minutes that have been supplied.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Lovely.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: I thank the witnesses for coming in. Their plain speaking is very helpful. I also thank the Deputy beside me for pushing this matter, which is why we are discussing it today. As it emerges, it is shocking. I have just got the report. I am certainly no expert on this terminology but a number of things jump out. The MANs is a good project, theoretically, run by the Government. It is a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: It is run by Enet.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: The report indicates that Enet has a sister company.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: ETNL, yes, which was separated from Enet in 2015. That sister company provides a similar service involving wholesale products and services.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: On the backhaul, paragraph 2.2.2 of the recently published review addresses concerns with the current business model and it states:Under the concession agreement, enet must treat all its customers in a transparent, non-discriminatory and equal way. Given that ETNL and its backhaul business is a related company of enet, enet may have an incentive and the ability to discriminate against...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: I ask Mr. Evans to revisit the issue of bills.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: The services are billed together even though, theoretically, they are provided by two separate companies. BT buys services from both companies.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion
BT Ireland (14 Feb 2019)

Catherine Connolly: A single bill. On tendering and the extension, the contract for the company to operate the MANs for 15 years, from 2004 to 2019, was signed in 2004.