Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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469. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the initial investment in the national broadband plan by companies (details supplied). [49715/19]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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470. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when a company (details supplied) first indicated that it would be investing in the national broadband plan. [49716/19]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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471. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the contractual responsibilities of a company (details supplied) in the context of the national broadband plan. [49717/19]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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472. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the due diligence undertaken of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49718/19]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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473. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has met with representatives of a company (details supplied); and if so, the context and the date of the meetings. [49719/19]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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474. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when his attention was drawn to the fact that a company (details supplied) was no longer a financial backer of the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49720/19]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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476. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the contract for the national broadband plan requires a company (details supplied) to make further investments in a scenario in which the plan requires additional funding; if they are contained within the signed contract; if the details of the requirements will be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49722/19]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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477. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a company (details supplied) submitted a pre-qualification questionnaire; if so, the date on which it was submitted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49723/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 469 to 474, inclusive, 476 and 477 together.

The Government is committed to delivering high speed broadband to every home, farm, business and school in Ireland. It is vital that we ensure that people of rural Ireland have the same opportunities as people in our towns and cities.

The fundamental building blocks of the project, which is designed to bring fibre to the home to over 1.1 million people in the intervention area, have not changed since the procurement process commenced. The project is led by Granahan McCourt, supported by key subcontractors enet and the Kelly Group, with Nokia as the provider of electronic equipment.

After appointment as the preferred bidder, the sponsors were required to finalise a number of steps before a contract could be signed. The Department was also required to carry out the necessary due diligence.

These steps included:

- Closing out contracts with infrastructure access providers (eir and enet), civil engineering companies and equipment providers

- Concluding the contractual provision in the 3,000 page contract.

- Finalisation of the committed equity documents with the shareholders of the new company, National Broadband Ireland.

As is standard in large projects, including PPPs, the final mix of shareholders to the project is concluded where all contractual documents have been finalised. The NBP process has been no different in this regard.

The procurement process for the National Broadband Plan contract includes a mechanism for the Department to assess and approve, or reject, changes to the membership of bidders. This assessment is carried out by ring fenced teams with similar make up to the teams that carried out the evaluation of the final tender, and overseen by a review panel and the Procurement Board. I have no role in the assessment.

The bidder proposed for contract award that McCourt Global LLC be replaced by Oak Hill. The proposed bidder change was submitted to the Department on 11 November 2019. The entity referred to by the Deputy submitted documentation, as a bidder member, as part of the submission by the lead bidder (Granahan McCourt). The due diligence was carried out against the conditions set out in the assessment process and was approved.

The Project Information Memorandum (PIM) dated December 2015 sets out the procurement process for the NBP. Relevant documents are published on my Department’s website.

As part of the assessment of a change, the relevant bidder is required to demonstrate that it continued to meet the economic and financial standing, together with technical and professional capacity, set out in the original pre-qualification criteria. The Department could not approve a change in bidder composition unless the relevant bidder met those criteria.

The funding commitments of National Broadband Ireland (NBI), including the equity and working capital commitments of €223m, have been contractualised as part of the contract award. The contract is with NBI and not with the entity referred to by the Deputy, which is an equity investor. Neither, I nor my officials have met with the entity referred to by the Deputy.

The fact that any modifications to shareholding made after Final Tender would be reviewed by the Department in advance of Contract Award, was set out in information provided to the Oireachtas after the appointment of NBI as preferred Bidder and this information is included in the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action and Environment in relation to the NBP.

The maximum possible investment by the State for the NBP contract will be €2.977 billion over 25 years. This includes €480 for contingency costs and includes €354m in VAT, which will be paid to the Revenue Commissioners as subsidy is spent. The contract does not allow NBI to receive any public funding above this cap. The remainder of funding required is a matter for NBI and its equity investors.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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475. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the results of a recent mapping consultation for the national broadband plan will be published. [49721/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Department recently conducted a public consultation to close the ongoing mapping exercise, seeking submissions from operators who wished to have their existing high speed broadband networks, or who had developed plans to invest in high speed broadband networks over the next 7 years, to be included on the Department’s High Speed Broadband Map. Operator submissions were assessed against the Department’s published assessment criteria. Analysis of the submissions has been completed and the changes made to the NBP High Speed Broadband Map as a result, have been made public. The Department is currently consulting with operators who made submissions in the public consultation, with a view to publishing non-confidential versions of these submissions on the Department’s website in the coming weeks.