Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Murphy and his colleagues. I wish to elaborate on a number of points which may have been touched on. I refer to the report of a review carried out by the UK national audit office. I refer to the breakdown of the share of profit between public sector and private sector in public private partnerships. Is it possible for either to make a profit from a PPP? Are the terms of a PPP made public? Does the NDFA carry out a cost-benefit analysis? It would seem that in the case of the UK, the government would have built the projects at a cheaper cost if it had borrowed the money rather than using the PPP system. I wish to tease out the issue of value for money. The UK equivalent system is called a private finance initiative. The UK national audit office report highlighted that these were poor value for money compared with a system where the government borrowed the full total and the project was then a public project. In some cases these projects were being used to circumvent departmental budgets. Do the contracts incentivise the contractors in any way? Does the NDFA include a renegotiation clause in the contract? I ask Mr. Murphy to shed some light on how PPPs work. Irish contractors find it difficult to get bonds. How many PPPs involve major Irish contractors? Are their tendering prices robust? Are they tendering at such low rates that these are not sustainable? Does the NDFA carry our due diligence inspections on the contracting companies? Is there scope for breaking down a PPP into a number of units so that smaller Irish building companies can tender for the work? I ask Mr. Murphy to provide an overview.