Seanad debates

Wednesday, 11 June 2003

Dublin Traffic Congestion: Motion.

 

The motion also refers to PPPs. Two buzz terms in the Department of Finance are "PPPs" and "value for money", the latter term having been totally abused by the Government given that it would not know anything about value for money. The jury is still out regarding PPPs. It has not been proven that they will lead to faster project completion compared to traditional public procurement. Whether they can deliver value for money depends on a number of factors, including the extent to which contracts can be specified, agreed and monitored in order to achieve efficiencies that outweigh the higher cost of private capital. The PPP system in England, called the PFI, is slightly different from ours but there are also difficulties with it. The experience is that PFIs seem to be more suitable for road building than hospital building. Our experience of PPPs has been bad. In the case of the toll bridge on the M50, the private operator has gained far more than the taxpayer or the public element. It was one of the first PPP projects from which we can learn lessons.

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