Mr. Fred Barry:

It is particularly acute in Ireland in that the volumes being lower than the PPP companies forecasted is true of virtually every scheme. Perhaps this is unusual. PPP schemes running into risks and risks materialising is not in any way uncommon. Recently, there have been reports of considerable problems in Australia where PPP companies have run into grave difficulties, PPPs in Spain ran into difficulty for reasons not unlike our own, and so on around the world.

I appreciate that, as the PPP commercial arrangements are complex, somewhat confidential and not in the public arena to the same extent as other commercial arrangements, people are concerned that PPP companies are doing terribly well behind the scenes. However, I would address the committee's attention to the published reports of the PPP companies for 2011, which are all registered. Cumulatively, PPP companies lost money in 2011. Far from making super-profits behind the scenes, they lost money primarily because of reduced traffic volumes. Some schemes made money, but others lost money. When totalled, the companies lost.