Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand that a value-for-money exercise is required as part of that. That value-for-money exercise must determine that the prices that come in for delivery of those units are better value for money than the traditional means of undertaking the same piece of work. I believe that is how it is worded. Unusually, this PPP is not just for design and build but also for the management and maintenance of the stock for 25 years which, I understand, has never been done previously in social housing delivery.

Has the value-for-money exercise been concluded? Does the Department know what it would cost to design, build, manage and maintain for 25 years relative to the traditional delivery of social housing? I presume if the Department has it concluded and has an answer to that question, Mr. McCarthy will not reveal it to us because the information is commercially sensitive. How will elected members in local authorities be able to determine whether this is a good use of taxpayers' money? I would have thought that the 25-year management and maintenance element of the cost, which the value-for-money exercise has to compare with the tender, will form a very big part of it.

What stage has the Department reached with that? How will it be able to share that information with elected members of local authorities in order to allow them to scrutinise the process properly? Why did the Department decide to include a 25-year management-and-maintenance element rather than just a PPP for design and build? I would have thought the Department would get good value for money with a PPP for design and build for 500 units. It could come well below the current €180,000 per unit for standard infill projects based on the Department's figures. I have a concern on that.

On a related topic, I said earlier that I was very surprised by the Minister's press release a couple of weeks ago on the two rapid-build projects being proposed for south Dublin County Council, both of which, I am pleased to say, have the Part 8 approval. However, on the basis of the figures in the Minister's press release, they will cost €245,000 per unit. A couple of months ago I got an answer from the Department indicating that the average cost over the past two years of providing a standard local authority new build is on average €180,000. Why will these rapid-build units cost €245,000 if that figure is correct? Unless something is built into the overall costs that I am not seeing, that is substantially higher than the €210,000 or so that we are told the Poppintree units cost. None of this is an argument against rapid-build housing. I am absolutely in favour of speedy delivery of good-quality units. I am concerned about the value-for-money element of the PPPs and I am very concerned about the cost of the rapid-build housing units. I seek clarity on both of those.