Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 124: To ask the Minister for Finance the targets he has set for the National Development Finance Agency; and the way in which it is performing against target. [33140/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 95 put by Deputy Paul McGrath on Wednesday, 5 October 2005, wherein I stated the following:

The National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, was established under the National Development Finance Agency Act 2002.

Section 3 of the Act sets out its functions in regard to advising State authorities on the optimum means of funding public investment projects in order to achieve value for money, including by means of public private partnership arrangements, PPP. Under the Act, it is a matter for the board to set any strategic objectives or targets to be met by the agency.

Under section 21 of the Act, the NDFA provides an annual report not later than six months after the end of each financial year. The report includes the accounts of NDFA which are presented to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit. The report is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Currently the report provides information on how the NDFA has performed its advisory functions in the year of account, including a list of projects on which it advised, and presents the annual accounts of the agency with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General thereon.