Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am optimistic that the private financing options being examined will prove helpful. I would prefer to explore approaches that retain as much of a role as possible for the private sector in providing funding and avoid the setting up of an additional State body if at all possible. The Fine Gael proposal, as I understand it, involves the establishment of a number of additional State bodies.

I remind the Deputy that the Government has responded to the global financial uncertainty in a very decisive way, as our friend Bo Lundgren pointed out yesterday to the committee. My Department and the NDFA, National Development Finance Agency, are working closely together in exploring this area. The team working on this involves not only my Department and the NDFA but also the Central Statistics Office. The principle aim of the team is to devise an infrastructure financing arrangement that meets our requirements. As I have indicated, this means the terms have to be right and in the taxpayer's favour, the investment has to make economic sense, value for money must be secured and an appropriate level of risk must be shared by the private sector involved. Unfortunately, due to concerns about commercial sensitivity, I am not free at this point to discuss the details of any proposal.

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