Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

A special report published yesterday in conjunction with the Comptroller and Auditor General's report focused on the pilot project relating to public private partnerships for school buildings. It clearly shows incompetence and wastage on the part of the Minister and the Department regarding the contract awarded in 1998. That contract involved the building of five schools, at Ballincollig, Dunmanway, Shannon, Tubbercurry and Clones, which would be leased for 25 years at a cost of €283 million.

We now find this is 13% more than the Department would have had to pay for the construction of these buildings in the traditional way. In addition, the Minister said a 6% to 8% bonus would accrue by proceeding in that way. Overall, this means a variation of 20%. This shows incompetence and a waste of money on the part of the Department and the Minister. This will probably be his last chapter of failure as he ends his stint in the Department of Education and Science.

This project will probably jeopardise the entire building programme of the Department of Education and Science. With so many primary and secondary schools in need of completion it will probably be used as a delaying tactic. The Leader should ask the new Minister for Education and Science to come to the House to indicate his or her policy on the future construction of schools at both levels.