Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 November 2021
140. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the steps he and his officials took to verify the financial standing of each of the consortium members in the context of the national broadband plan and the winning bidder (details supplied); and the way in which they compared with that of the pre-qualification criteria. [55481/21]
View answer141. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide in percentage terms, in the context of the national broadband plan, the capital each member of the consortium was putting up; and if his Department verified the bona fides of each consortium member vis-à-vis their tax status and balance sheet health. [55482/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 141 together.
The NBP contract address NBI’s funding arrangements and set out that all funding commitments had to be in place for the NBP contract to come into effect. Total funds committed to the Project from Metallah Limited equate to €223m. This committed funding by Metallah Limited is in the form of Shareholder Loans to NBI and equity provided to NBI. The funding is not attributed to individual members of the consortium.
An updated assessment of the financial standing of consortium members was undertaken by the Department and its advisors in November 2019, prior to the signing of the NBP Contract. That assessment included a due diligence of company accounts and letters of support where applicable, to ensure that there was no material adverse change in the financial standing of the Bidder from that assessed at pre-qualification stage.
