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

If the Minister cannot make comparisons, how can he establish value for money? What determines value for money in this scheme versus the other schemes?

I will go back to the first question I asked about the public private partnerships. I realise there is some difficulty with them. My understanding is that a public service benchmarking exercise has been carried out. I gather it is held under lock and key in order that no politician can look at it bar, I presume, the Minister and the Department. It is used to make a comparison for the successful tenders.

There is meant to be some mechanism to determine if the cost of the public private partnership consortium over the 25 years is around or less than the cost to the State of delivering the same service. Can the Minister give us any information on that? Is there a similar exercise? How can the Minister refer to value for money for enhanced leasing? What is the Minister measuring it against?