Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, and Dublin City Council have been working continually on that matter since an issue arose regarding the contracts for those important housing projects. PPPs have a role to play. They do not subsume the role of other means by which housing is provided by the State, including direct Exchequer funding, local authorities or many other approaches, such as affordable or voluntary housing schemes. Many models provide a differentiated approach in respect of different housing needs, rather than the old approach which was almost exclusively a local authority funded and directed operation. That provided for uniform solutions——

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