Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Yes. The port tunnel cost far in excess of what we were originally told. The controversial library headquarters in Dún Laoghaire ended up costing some €10 million more than we were originally told and the national children's hospital will go way over budget. How can we have confidence in CIF members when this consistently happens? That is what Joe Public is asking. The State puts a lot into PPPs in terms of land, infrastructure and upfront capital investment but, because of commercial sensitivity rules, we do not have transparency about the arrangements between the private and public sectors. When one asks questions the reply is that there is commercial sensitivity and I find this deeply problematic. One of the main reasons I am opposed to PPPs is that one cannot find out what is going on because of commercial sensitivity agreements so why should we go down that road?

I am a left winger.