Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will have to write back to the committee and to the Deputy on the specific health projects. I am not in a position to answer that question now.

On his point about public private partnerships, they do have a valuable role to play in the economy and there are many other projects that have been delivered well by PPPs. The benefit they have for the State is that we do not make any payments for a project until it is either open or finished. That is why PPPs play a valuable role but I continue to take a careful approach to them in that we must decide on a project-by-project basis whether they are the right thing to do.

I hope and expect that the difficulties regarding the schools that are being built by Carillion will be resolved. I know the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, is working on that at the moment. I will look to see what we can learn from that particular experience.