Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Just taking up on the issue of public private partnerships, my experience as a public representative on what was a VEC does not reassure me that there is value for money with public private partnerships. I heard Mr. O'Kelly reassuring me. Obviously, it is somewhat like David and Goliath here in the sense of what members must go through - with the help of the Comptroller and Auditor General - to try to look at matters. Going on my experience, I remember being on that committee and it was a mantra that public private partnership was better. However, that mantra was not proven or backed up by any evidence and when some evidence came before us, it showed that the direct building of schools was much cheaper and much more cost-effective. This has been stated by Deputy Cullinane and raised by the Chairman, which I support fully. It concerns me that the Comptroller and Auditor General has stated that despite a statutory obligation, there has been no look-back on any of these public private partnerships. At this point, that is a red alert. A second red alert is he does not have staff to do it. Consequently, while reassurances from Mr. O'Kelly are wonderful, they do not reassure me in that sense. I really would like to see it in plain English, in order that I can explain it to the taxpayers. That is the first point.

Staying on the subject of public private partnerships, what is the up-to-date status of the transfer of public private partnerships from the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, to the new Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII? What is the current status and how many are there?