Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

Last week in this House I called for a debate on the role of public private partnerships, particularly with regard to public housing and public infrastructure projects. I called for that debate last Thursday because four of the enterprises that have been destroyed by the announcement today by Dublin City Council are in my constituency. In recent weeks the negative perception and doubt regarding the status of those projects has been increasing.

Any debate conducted in this House must be clear on several points. Senator Dan Boyle stated earlier that what has happened here is the collapse of a funding mechanism. We must be clear that what happened today is a lot more serious than the collapse of a funding mechanism.