Seanad debates
Tuesday, 17 December 2002
National Development Finance Agency Bill, 2002: Second Stage.
I do not understand if it is intended to continue with PPP units in individual Departments or what the decision making process is in that regard. I will use a road project as an example. The NRA currently develops the project and decides in principle that it wants to do it, usually in conjunction with the Minister for the Environment and Local Government. That Minister eventually comes, as part of the Estimates process, to the Minister for Finance who either provides the money or not, and the project goes ahead or does not. At what point in this process is it necessary to go to the NDFA? Will that be before money is sought from the Minister for Finance as part of the Estimates process or at an earlier stage? Is this only being done because Departments have been slow to come up with suitable projects for PPPs? If that is the case, I am not sure this is the right way to do it. Departments need to be encouraged to be innovative in their thinking and I appreciate that they have not always been that. Nonetheless, I am not convinced that the NDFA is the right way to go.
No comments