Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

It seems I am the only party finance spokesperson present for this debate. If it continues after 8.30 p.m., however, perhaps other spokespersons will also have an opportunity to contribute. I fully support Deputy Bruton's amendment. The principle of the legislation has been accepted as a requirement for an oversight mechanism for the use of PPPs by the State and its agencies. Deputy Broughan referred to the report published last week by the Committee of Public Accounts and I had the privilege of being the rapporteur. As it was a report by the Committee of Public Accounts, I did not think it was in order to take elements directly from it and submit amendments to the Bill on Report Stage because the committee works by consensus. I had hoped the Minister for Finance and his Department would have taken the opportunity directly to examine that report and insert a number of Government amendments to the Bill on Report Stage. The report has addressed a number of principles concerning public accountability, confidence in using the PPP mechanism, and questions about the effectiveness and efficiency of PPPs. On those grounds, I am disappointed that there has yet to be a formal response to the report from the Department or the Minister. Report Stage would have presented a good opportunity to table Government amendments to the Bill, based on the report.

As Deputy Broughan said, the report examined best international practice not only in Australia and Canada but also in the United Kingdom. Difficulties are being experienced in other EU countries such as Germany as to whether the PPP is an effective mechanism and how one can publicly account for it. The difficulty is that when public money is being used by a private sector interest, the Committee of Public Accounts has said, through this report, that it has no way of knowing whether it is being used effectively. Deputy Bruton's amendment is at least an attempt to insert a mechanism in the Bill for doing so. The legislation tries to give a particular State agency responsibility for a degree of oversight that has been lacking in the past. Even when the Bill is passed, however, we will still have oversight mechanisms that fall short of those in other countries. That was the purpose of the report by the Committee of Public Accounts. I reiterate my disappointment that the opportunity was not taken to insert many of the report's recommendations into the legislation. I hope the Minister of State will see fit to accept Deputy Bruton's amendment, at least as an interim measure.

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