Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It seems from my research that there is an indicative figure of approximately €260 million for investment in capital infrastructure for the coming year. As the Minister of State has said, that falls far short of the €600 million figure that was indicated. That is why I am asking about public private partnerships. The Department must have some idea of how much it wants to invest in capital infrastructure next year. Will that investment involve public private partnerships? If so, will there be an extra cost burden that will be of interest to companies that are investing in public private partnerships? If a wastewater treatment system were developed in this way in County Galway, would there be an extra cost for the people using that system because of the fact that it was a public private partnership? Would the entire cost of a public private partnership be borne by Irish Water as a company, with its capital investment taking place in line with its list of priorities? Will the Minister of State clarify whether it is the case that he is talking about public private partnerships?

Does the Minister of State have a figure in mind for how much money he will be looking to raise? I am not looking for specific details regarding the various areas in which it will be spent. The Minister of State must have a ballpark figure. If he has €260 million of Government money to invest, is he looking for matching funding of €100, €200 or €300 million from private sources to help this investment? Surely he will want to front-load that because of the issues we have with our infrastructure. It has been mentioned that there is leakage of 30% to 40% in some areas. The relevant figure in County Kerry is 60%, as the Minister of State has said. He needs to fix the system fairly rapidly. One would imagine the capital investment needs to happen at the front end of the scale. Surely the Minister of State has indicative figures. Surely some research in this regard was done before the Minister of State brought this Bill to the House.