Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It seems to me that striking a deal with a PPP is a nice arrangement, despite the fact that the deal costs 15 times more than can be borrowed. It is a nice arrangement where people can say, "There is the contract, there is the deal and we wash our hands off this project as it has nothing to do with us anymore." I believe that the organisations present do not give a damn what contractor was chosen. Sammon was chosen but it is comprised of a crowd of cowboys. By the sound of things, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has no input into this matter because, as the NDFA has stated, the arrangement was made so the matter has nothing to do with the Department from here on, and the PPP boys will run things from here. Is it good enough for the State not to give a damn or have no influence over what contractor, be they a cowboy or otherwise, is appointed by the people with whom it has just done business? Do the witnesses not give a damn about who is picked? I understand that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform did not employ the contractor but it does not seem to give a damn about who was picked by the people it employed. The subcontractors were not employed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform but they were employed by the contractor picked by the people it employed, and they did not pay the subcontractors because they ran into problems. Sadly, there is no security for the subcontractors. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform does not seem to give a damn about that either and has washed its hands off the matter as it does not go that far down the food chain.