Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting to hear the Minister of State talking about the review and the recommendations emanating from it in respect of how public private partnerships should work into the future. Unfortunately, that review has not been published; I would have hoped it would have been in advance of this debate, if not earlier. I implore the Minister of State to use his good offices to ensure it is published as soon as possible so we can scrutinise its recommendations in order to ensure we get the best value for money for the State.

Public private partnership is the only off-balance sheet mechanism open to Government that can comply with EU fiscal rules. It is an option that can cater for the delivery of additional infrastructure and services that might not otherwise be possible. Where the project is appropriate and is structured properly, PPPs can provide a useful alternative to direct Government investment. At a time when direct Exchequer borrowing is highly constrained, they provide a viable alternative. It was interesting to hear the Minister of State say again that the restriction placed on their use by the Government in 2015 has been lifted in the context of the national development plan. We welcome this. We did not believe it was the prudent thing to do at the time. It cut off a vital alternative when our fiscal space was very tight. As a result, it could be argued, we lost out on vital funding from the European Investment Bank and the Junker plan. Fianna Fáil believes that public private partnerships can and do play a leading role in providing major capital projects. We recognise that issues have been highlighted recently in Ireland and the UK, particularly the UK. We recognise that they do not necessarily give free money. However, we cannot ignore them. We must commit to using them when the project is appropriate and the structure is correct.

As for how it would be framed and best interests served, we would establish a national infrastructural commission that would work with the National Development Finance Agency and the central PPP unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure that the right projects are identified and the correct structures put in place for each project. Many parties to the left will continue to be opposed to public private partnerships purely on ideological grounds. While issues have been exposed, these parties continue to ignore the fact that public private partnerships have worked, are working and can play a constructive role into the future. Large parts of our road network, connecting all parts of the country, have been provided by public private partnerships, in addition to major projects in our health and education sectors. Parties on the left which oppose this mechanism simply wish to add to a national debt that is already large and to incur the cost associated with major construction projects.

The Parliamentary Budget Office produced a paper on PPPs recently. Under "definition and purposes of PPPs", it states that the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government was unable to identify any new off-balance sheet model capable of being classified as off-balance sheet under EUROSTAT rules. It is vitally important that we are made aware of what those models or proposals were in order for them to be adjudicated by parties other than those in government. We believe this mechanism should be made available to the sector to address the huge crisis we have at present. The likes of the credit unions and public-private equity funds are prepared to invest over and above the amount put forward by the State. They can get over the EU rules and can contract developers to build on private lands and lease back to local authorities for 80 years if need be. A return on that investment would be welcome for investors.

Today's short debate is hardly appropriate to discuss the issue adequately. I ask the Minister of State again to bring to the House or to my party the details of what models were investigated by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in respect of this issue.

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