Much water has flowed under the bridge since then. The Minister referred to the debacle covering some of the areas involved. There has been a worldwide collapse of the telecommunications sector, brought about because of excess optimism about its investment prospects. The Eircom debacle has left the State in a much weakened position with regard to the telecommunications industry and plunged the company back into a position where its first priority must be to cope with what would have to be regarded as on overwhelming burden of debt. In tandem with this, the dot com bubble burst, largely as a result of untrammelled greed and unlimited wishful thinking in the sector.