David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I do not know if the work programme has been agreed, although I note it is on the agenda of today's meeting. I asked previously that the committee revisit the issue of public private partnerships. The report provided to the committee by the Comptroller and Auditor General raises all sorts of issues concerning public private partnerships, including whether the information the committee receives gives a complete picture of the 25 year duration of such contracts. Only some of the recommendations made to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and other Departments have been implemented. The committee should revisit the issue of public private partnerships because they involve significant sums of taxpayers' money. International best practice shows that other countries do things better than we do in this area. It would be valuable if the committee were to examine examples of international best practice because information is key and without it, we cannot evaluate whether we are obtaining good value for money from public private partnerships. The issues raised in Mr. McCarthy's report merit a decision by the committee to revisit public private partnerships as a stand-alone issue at some point.