David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We may be interrupted by a vote. I do not wish to be unfair to anybody. It is correct that we are robust and that we ask the appropriate questions. I will stick to the issue of PPPs but I believe we have a responsibility to reflect on today's meeting to determine whether we have made progress in terms of getting value for money. There is a commitment to publish the post-project reviews. When those reports are published, perhaps we will be in a better position to determine whether progress is being made.

Members have asked questions on whether we can really determine that the taxpayer gets value for money in terms of PPPs. One of the difficulties we have is that we do not have any information. I ask Mr. Ó Foghlú and Mr. Watt to put themselves in our shoes. A post-project review is like hen's teeth, the members of the Committee of Public Accounts have never seen them. I have never seen one. I do not know what analysis has been done and outcomes that have been achieved. I would imagine if I were looking at a post-project review, I would see an evaluation of whether the benchmarks that were set were met; whether there were impediments, delays, additional legal costs, and whether mistakes were made and a range of other issues. One learns from a review. Does Mr. Ó Foghlú understand that, from our perspective, if no post-project reviews were carried out by the Department, how can he learn or how can we learn so that we ensure we get value for money?