David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has not answered my questions on the viability of PPPs and value for money. There is already flexibility in capital spending whereby any investment can be spread over four years, which is why Sinn Féin provided for €1.2 billion of additional capital investment in our alternative budget. The Minister flunked that and missed an opportunity to have significant capital investment this year when it is most needed. According to a response to a query to the Minister's Department, only 11 post-project reviews of PPPs were carried out. The reports were never published or laid before the Committee on Public Accounts despite requests for them. In other jurisdictions, it is the norm to have pre and post-project reports. The level of monitoring and oversight in respect of PPPs in this State is very poor and lax. That is why we do not have the confidence that we are getting value for money because even the post-project reports are not being properly scrutinised by the Oireachtas.

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