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

On the housing front, I am very worried about the PPPs. Mr. McDowell sounds quite enthusiastic about them.

Can Mr. McDowell elaborate on the nature of the PPPs? Apart from anything else, they seem to be opaque and because they involve the private sector, we get all this stuff about commercial secrecy. We never quite know the details of a PPP. There are a variety of PPPs but my concern is that they are a vehicle for the privatisation of public land. Previously social housing developments on public land would have been 100% provided by the State with the State owning the asset at the end and generating all the revenue. Under these PPPs, my fear is that the private sector will end up with significant portions of the developments and deriving much of the benefit from them with the State not having an asset at the end of the process.