Mr. Brian Murphy:

Ultimately, these are policy questions. If the policy makers ultimately decide that this must be released, then it must be released, but it is important to understand there could be risks.

The pilot schools project which predates the NDFA by many years was originally conceived in 1999 and started in 2001. Recently, in agreement with the Department of Education and Skills, we have taken over its contract management. Our view in the NDFA is that there is a lot of internal expertise in regard to PPP contractual arrangements and the structure and financing of PPPs. We have built a very close relationship with the Department of Education and Skills and delivered quite a few schools already. It was considered that we could better administer the contract for the project. Recently, at the beginning of the year, we took it over. We accessed the life cycle fund and helped to manage a refurbishment of some schools during the summer. We are retaining the management contract for the two PPPs projects we have delivered in the education sector. That is an innovation. We will now carry out the administration of the contract. We will be the ones raising the invoice and overseeing the payment mechanism.