Ms Geraldine Tallon:

I am not sure that Deputy Murphy is correct in referring to those reports as value for money reports. They were undertaken as part of the assessment of the public-private partnership competition. The first report related to the assessment of the tender provided by the private operator. Subsequent to that, the contract was awarded to Elsam. Subsequent to that, the company awarded the contract was taken over by a different company and there was a corporate restructuring within the takeover process. Dublin City Council was required to go back under capital appraisal and public-private partnership guidelines to establish whether this takeover constituted a continuation of the contract or a basis upon which a new procurement was required. It was a public sector benchmark study as opposed to a value for money study in those cases.