Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I will be in a position to give the Deputy the details of the interest as soon as the other bundles have been cleared and clarified. As a former Minister for Finance, the Deputy more than anyone else would understand exactly what is the situation.

On the question as to whether I am satisfied that the contract is not more expensive than funding this via the Exchequer, the bid accepted by the National Development Finance Agency passed all value for money tests as prescribed in the Department of Finance public private partnership guidelines. These guidelines apply to all PPP projects regardless of whether they are funded by direct Exchequer funding, by deferred annual payments from the Exchequer, by user charges or by any other means. Four formal value for money tests are completed during the PPP procurement process. The first two tests are the responsibility of the Department prior to the handover of the project to the National Development Finance Agency for procurement, and responsibility for the third and fourth formal tests rests with the National Development Finance Agency itself. The bid accepted by the National Development Finance Agency passed all of these tests.

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