Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's point on greater transparency or information but he was to publish a major review of PPPs going over the past couple of decades and into the future. I do not know if his Department has done that yet. He mentioned a central expenditure evaluation unit and that clearly has a key role along with the National Development Finance Agency in evaluating PPPs. There still seems to be an opaque nature when we look at the multi-annual capital framework and the spending of each Department. We still need clarification on how PPPs are performing, particularly with respect to water supply and drainage. This relates to the way money is drawn down and the way projects move forward. We have the major River Shannon water supply project, the Ringsend project and so on. There is much work to be done in treatment, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, has done much work in the area. There are also flood relief schemes and so on. It seems hard to disaggregate the PPP structure despite major criticism. We had the Comptroller and Auditor General report of 2011, when the Government took power, which is very critical. The Economic and Social Research Institute has been equally critical over the years.

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