Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is much better to deal with the design issues up front before the private sector develops the project and, as Deputy Fleming said, takes on the responsibility of the operational costs over the lifetime of the project. Risk transfer is an important criterion in deciding whether a project is appropriate for a PPP so that we do not take all the risk up front. If there are possibilities through contractual arrangements to spread the risk, it is clearly in the interest of the taxpayer to do so.

I acknowledge Deputy Boyle's call for a debate on PPPs. The Bill is amending legislation and the basic legislative framework for using PPPs was put in place by the Oireachtas in the State Authorities (Public Private Partnership Arrangements) Act 2002 and the National Development Finance Agency Act 2002. The use of such partnerships was supported by the social partners in the national framework agreement on PPPs in 2001.

I thank all those who contributed to the debate for the many interesting points they made and for their support for the legislation. It is the right way forward and I look forward to their ongoing support during the passage of the Bill.

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