Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Coghlan for sharing time. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to the House. While the Government has made great play in recent years over public private partnerships and design, build and operate projects, I was surprised the Minister of State did not refer to them. The Ministers for Transport, Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Education and Science and the Taoiseach have championed public private partnerships. Massive infrastructural projects are being developed through these partnerships. Examples include the Mullingar-Dublin road, the Ringsend waste water plant, the proposed N3 road and several schools building projects. The taxpayers want to know how these partnerships are proceeding and are operated but the Minister did not refer to them.

Members have read how these partnerships have operated in England over the past ten years and that some have been disasters. The former Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, informed the House that the Ringsend waste water treatment unit would be the be-all and end-all of treatment plants and an exemplary package for all towns.

Last week, I raised with the current Minister, Deputy Roche, the funding of these public private partnerships. The Government, including the then Minister for Finance, Mr. McCreevy, in the 2004 budget, made great play of decentralisation and the development of hub towns in the national spatial strategy. However, some towns, including Castlebar, are at a crossroads concerning the provision of infrastructure. The waste water treatment unit for Castlebar will cost €50 million. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is compelling the local authority to raise 20% of this figure. The Mayo county manager must now locate between €10 million to €13 million for this scheme to commence under a public private partnership. While the contracts are soon to be signed, the Department will notify the county manager shortly whether he can proceed with the scheme. Where will he find €13 million from a small rates base such as Castlebar's? Castlebar is not the only town in this type of quandary. The Department claims criteria are laid down in the partnership scheme for all towns to secure funding in these schemes. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to call on the Ministers for Finance and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to resolve this issue.

No local authority of the size of Mayo or Clare can secure such funding. Other major schemes saw local authorities, such as Galway's and Limerick's, having to secure only 4% to 6% of funding in their public private partnership schemes. The business community in areas such as Castlebar will have to cough up. Not all towns are being treated equally in this regard. Any non-domestic users, such as businesses, of the waste water scheme will have to pay for the capital aspect of its development. While this holds back developments in the regions, cities such as Dublin become clogged up. The Taoiseach has admitted that yet another outer relief road is required for Dublin city. Other Members demand transport infrastructure such as trams and rail lines for Dublin city. Why not, as Dublin is sucking it all in? The regions are being victimised with no decisions being made on projects and many regional towns falling behind as a result. I would welcome a response from the Minister of State on this matter. I am disappointed that while these schemes are going ahead in the environment, transport and education areas, he did not refer to them. Are the partnerships being put on the back-burner?