Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact the Minister's Department has indicated it will review the question of public private partnerships, PPPs. We had PPPs during the years of collapse, and certainly in the years from 2011 to 2014, because it was one of the few ways of borrowing money for desperately needed infrastructure in this country and of keeping the economy afloat, because we could not borrow. However, things have changed. The cost of borrowing for the State is very cheap. I do not understand why the Minister has decided to remove the cap of 10% in the national development plan for 2040. The previous Government, of which the Minister and I were both members, had a cap of 10%. Why has he removed it? Does he mean to allow PPPs to go to 50% or 60% of public construction?

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