Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 148: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the amount of public private partnership projects in the pipeline; and if he is satisfied with the system for developing and selecting projects for this system of project finance. [33106/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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A list of PPP projects with an estimated capital value over €20 million, which have reached the stage of appointment of client advisers or later, is prepared for the Informal PPP Advisory Group, which meets bi-monthly, and is available on the public private partnership website www.ppp.gov.ie. This list includes PPP projects being undertaken by the following State authorities: National Roads Authority, Courts Service, Irish Prisons Service-Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Department of Education and Science, Department of Health and Children, Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, Office of Public Works and Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

In addition to those listed, the Minister for Education and Science recently announced her plans to provide 27 new schools by way of public private partnership and, as the Deputy will be aware, the Minister for Transport has made a recent announcement about a major investment in transport infrastructure under the Transport 21 investment framework, which includes a significant PPP component.

In July 2005, I announced a new initiative aimed at accelerating the delivery of PPPs for key capital infrastructure projects in the central government area. The role of NDFA is being expanded to facilitate the consolidation of the relevant skills and capacity required to support PPP procurement in a specialised centre of expertise, responsible for the procurement of all new PPP projects in the central government area with the exception of roads and rail, where existing arrangements will continue. The initiative focuses in the initial stages on progressing projects suitable for PPP procurement in three key Departments, namely the Departments of Education and Science, Health and Children and Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The system developed for the selection of public private partnership projects, like other capital projects, is based on the application of the Guidelines for the Appraisal and Management of Capital Expenditure in the Public Sector and complementary PPP-specific guidance issued by my Department. Departments and other sponsoring agencies must also seek the advice of the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, on the optimum means of financing the cost of public investment projects or groups of PPP projects over €20 million in order to achieve value for money and on all aspects of financing, refinancing and insurance of public investment projects to be undertaken by means of public private partnership. This system has been developed on the basis of the experience gained with the pilot projects and international experience. We continue to keep the process under review.

The selection of projects to be procured by means of PPP is a matter for individual Departments, subject to the overall multi-annual capital investment framework and the relevant guidelines. Also, there are a number of forms of PPP used in Ireland, such as design, build and operate, not all of which involve the use of private finance.