Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I will respond to the Deputy's questions which encapsulate the core issues in this regard. As Deputy Quinn is aware, the PPP process is highly specific, detailed and case-specific on an individual basis. Once a PPP process has been entered into, there is very little latitude, which is proper and appropriate. The Department's role is to ensure that PPP compliance is in place and after the submission, as the Deputy is again aware, the National Development Finance Agency provides the necessary financial certification. In the circumstances that present themselves to Dublin City Council, unless something dramatic was to happen overnight, the project and Elsam, or rather the Danish oil consortium which has effectively taken it over, will be out of the picture. Once a project is certified as being in compliance with the PPP, all the arrangements pertaining to that project must be continued. Otherwise it constitutes a different set of situations.

As for whether the planning process will be aborted, that does not necessarily follow. As the Deputy is aware, the planning process pertains to a project rather than to its financial elements. Similarly, the Environmental Protection Agency processes are quite separate from the PPP process.

As for informing a fellow Minister, I find it astonishing that I should withhold information from anyone. Had Deputies Quinn and Gormley or any other Member asked me what was the position, I would have provided them with the up-to-date information.

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