Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

We have all been slightly wrongfooted by the early commencement of Report Stage. Nevertheless, I wish to record Sinn Féin's opposition to the Bill and what it seeks to achieve. There can be no doubt that it is placing the centre of expertise for public private partnerships on a statutory footing. It seeks to improve the capacity of Departments to initiate PPP arrangements in order to progress specific capital works. Sinn Féin is fundamentally opposed to the use of PPPs, which have a dreadful record, not only domestically but also internationally. It is surprising that the Government is pressing ahead with the increased use of PPPs at this time, despite the problems associated with this method of financing public infrastructure. It has already been acknowledged by the Minister himself as a complex process of procurement. It certainly is all of that. The Government is clearly ignoring the fundamental flaws of the PPP system.

I note that the Acting Chairman for this evening's deliberations is a Limerick Deputy and I would like to refer to Dr. Owen Reeves who is the director of privatisation and PPP research at the University of Limerick. He has stated: "It is quite astonishing that the PPP programme is expanding so rapidly, given that the experience with PPPs in Ireland has been either unfavourable or untested." That is an important point. The untested aspect of it has already been reflected upon by the Comptroller and Auditor General in his report at the end of last year. Several eminent contributions have raised real and deep concerns about what can only be described as the squandering of public money. There is no doubt that private finance is more expensive than Government debt. There are no two ways about it. We are paying over the odds in all the pilot or experimental PPP projects undertaken by the Government over the past decade; all the facts indicate that it has been an expensive experience for the Exchequer and for the public. It is the Government's bounden duty to ensure essential public capital projects are progressed in the first instance at the most affordable rate possible, and not by falling for the temptation to extend piecemeal the return or repayment on moneys accessed through PPPs over 20 or 25 years.

Some schools and colleges were constructed using this approach.

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