Mr. Eoin Dorgan:

The unitary payments come from the Department of further and higher education’s budget. One of the attractions of PPPs is that projects that might take longer can be brought forward . I know it is taking quite a while to get to this point but an overall capital envelope is divided among Departments by Government decisions on budget. Yes, the cost is spread over the unitary payments 25 years into the future but actually it can have the effect of allowing the capital envelope of a Department to be spent on certain projects while also bringing forward capital development that is paid for subsequently over the 25 years through the unitary payments.