Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, if I can speak, I am trying to do so. I understand I have a time limit and I will be as clear and simple as possible in my communications. What is this legislation doing? I hope the Deputies will vote for it because it will allow €6.9 billion of capital which is invested outside the State to come back into the country to work to create jobs. Furthermore, it will create, in the investment protocols therein, a return to the agreed public private partnership.

Deputy McGrath made an important point about commercial investment. These have to be commercial investments. A question was asked about State investment and commercial investment. Deputy McGrath can explain to Deputy Higgins that if it is done by the State only, then it goes on the Government balance sheet. However, if the State is not the majority participant, then it is off the Government balance sheet. Let us suppose a given amount of money can be used to build 100 houses. If we get an equal amount of public private partnership funding we can build not 100 but 200 houses.

6 o’clock

This legislation does not include housing per se, but the conditions will allow for public private partnerships that existed under the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA. For example, as part of the €110 million allocated to building bundle 3 schools in recent years, 7,500 school places were provided for students around the country. The quality of the build was such that those schools won the world finance best European education project of the year award in 2013, Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland awards and so on.

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