Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

The Minister seemed to indicate that the Comptroller and Auditor General's report is not independent. If one applies the 8% to 13% valuation to the whole schools building programme at the lower end of the scale, one school in every 12 will not be built and, at the higher end of the scale, one school in every eight will not be built. That is the trend in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report.

The Minister also spoke about the 16% guaranteed return mentioned in the ESRI report. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report mentions a guaranteed return of 13% in the Department of Education and Science's bundled projects. Will the Minister explain why that 13% guaranteed return, which is effectively the interest rate, is somehow better than borrowing on the open market at a much lower cost to the State? That is the nub of public private partnerships. Not only do they cost more to construct, we know from analysis carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General that they cost more to maintain over a 20 to 25-year period. Where is the benefit other than the early construction of this infrastructure?

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