Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wonder if the Minister or his Department have had the chance to read the Parliamentary Budget Office's overview of public private partnerships in Ireland. What it says about value for money is very clear. The value for money of PPPs is difficult to assess until the PPP itself has been in place for several years. We know this from the example of some toll roads where the private sector is paid for cars that have never used the road.

Secondly, PPPs can potentially create private sector monopolies. Their duration is frequently a matter of decades, which is the case in the Irish model. In certain circumstances this can provide the private sector with a monopolistic position which may place potential competitors, including from the public sector, at a disadvantage. Where the PPPs relate to the provision of a service it may be very difficult to define the quality of the service. We know this from hundreds of cases in the UK. The cost has been horrendous.

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