Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Does the Taoiseach have a definitive date for the publication of the capital plan? We should agree the national planning framework at least in tandem with, if not before, we allocate money under the capital plan. It seems we are now pushing back the date for finalising the national planning framework and I agree with that because there are many new submissions to come in. We need to get it right but it seems odd that we would determine the next decade of capital expenditure and then determine the national planning framework. Does the Taoiseach have a view on that?

The Taoiseach will recall that during our time in government I set a limit of 10% on the amount of money that could be allocated to public private partnerships, PPPs, in proportion to the overall capital budget. By their nature, PPPs are more expensive and it seems odd that we would opt for them if we can borrow money at a much lower rate on the open market now. We needed PPPs when there was fiscal constraint and we could not borrow sufficient money. I hear talk about loosening that and having more PPPs when, after we reach our medium term objective of a balanced budget in structural terms next year, we should be able to borrow significant moneys at a much cheaper rate. I would be interested in hearing of the Taoiseach's attitude to PPPs in the context of the next development plan.

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