Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the role of PPP financing in the phase 4 infrastructure stimulus projects he announced on 13 May 2014; if such PPP contracts will be subject to value for money auditing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23674/14]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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My question has two parts. The first refers to the financing arrangements for the phase 4 infrastructure stimulus projects the Minister announced on 13 May. The second part relates to public private partnership, PPP, contracts and the use or otherwise of value for money auditing in making decisions to go that route as against the traditional route.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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On Tuesday, 13 May, I announced phase 4 of the infrastructure stimulus projects. This phase involves €200 million of Exchequer investment to fund projects in a range of sectors, including road schemes, social housing to meet acute needs arising in that area, and a range of tourism-related works that will help to support long-term jobs in that sector.  This investment will also help to fund a range of projects commemorating the foundation of our State.  As with previous investment packages, the projects are spread around the country and will create economic activity and employment on a regional basis. The investment will be funded through the Exchequer from the proceeds of the sale of State assets.

The phase 4 stimulus announcement does not involve any PPP projects. The initial stimulus announcement I made in July 2012 included €1.5  billion of PPP investment, and work on the delivery of those projects is under way by the relevant Departments and agencies. Value for money testing is part of the standard project appraisal process for PPPs that is carried out by the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, and the relevant sanctioning authority in each case.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Of the €200 million investment to which the Minister referred, all of which will be directly funded by the Exchequer, how much will come from the sale of State assets?

The Minister indicated that the value for money audit is a standard part of the project appraisal process. According to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, €6.2 billion was invested in the water services sector between 2000 and 2010. This involved 66 very large projects, many of them in the wastewater sector. The astonishing thing is that when one questions that Department about value for money auditing of these projects, it claims to have no role in the matter and bounces the ball back to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. However, a parliamentary question I put to the Minister, Deputy Howlin, for answer today in respect of the wastewater sector and the value for money auditing which apparently has not been carried out in respect of these projects, my question was disallowed. I am asking why, where the PPP route was chosen for wastewater projects that formed part of that investment €6.2 billion, value for money audits either have not been carried out, or if they have, it is almost impossible to obtain the detail from the system as to what those audits reflected?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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All of the €200 million stimulus I recently announced is coming from the dividend paid to the State by ESB and Bord Gáis Éireann from the sale of assets.

On the Deputy's second question, I have no notice in regard to water investment. I would have sought a briefing on the issue if I had known the Deputy was going to inquire about it.

However, what I will say, in general terms, is that a PPP project is automatically evaluated by law by the National Development Finance Agency which independently certifies whether it is value for money.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his answer. It seems almost impossible to get at the information required. I think the Minister will agree that €6.2 billion of investment in the wastewater sector is very significant. I think he will also agree that given the fact the public is now bracing itself for the imposition of water charges, concerns are now heightened as to that scale of investment, where that liability will lie and, most crucially, an assurance that the choice of public private partnership for investment of that scale was the correct choice. A number of years ago a committee of this House recommended that the Comptroller and Auditor General should be able to report on these schemes in the wastewater treatment facilities but, unfortunately, the Comptroller and Auditor General is precluded from carrying out that investigation by law. We then had a situation where the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister's Department were before the Committee of Public Accounts some months ago and, when questioned about value for money audits on this issue, they could not answer the questions and they passed the ball from one Department to the other.

While the Minister might not have the specifics on the wastewater treatment facilities with him today, I would like him to respond to me, perhaps in writing, on that issue. More specifically, will the Minister tell me with whom the buck stops in terms of carrying out these value for money audits? In which Department is it vested?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I have already answered that question inasmuch as it is each line Department which is responsible for the oversight and maintenance of projects within their own area. The Deputy told us her question was out of order but then asked a series of supplementary questions on the question on which I am not briefed, so it is not reasonable that I would be asked to answer them. However, in general terms, the questions the Deputy asked would be appropriate to the Joint Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government to get detailed information from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and Irish Water and, if they are projects which have been processed through the NDFA, from the NDFA directly.