Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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Question 257: To ask the Minister for Finance if the substantial investment of taxpayers' money in public private partnerships such as school building and roads development, will be opened to scrutiny by Houses of the Oireachtas public representatives at the Committee of Public Accounts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31543/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The same arrangements for scrutiny by the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts that apply to traditionally procured projects apply also to projects procured by means of a public private partnership arrangement. In general terms, this scrutiny applies to project expenditure in areas that are subject to audit or other examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General under the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act, 1993.

As the Deputy will be aware from the five-year capital envelopes published as part of the 2006 Budget, the majority of projects in the State will continue to be procured by means of traditional procurement. A relatively small, but nevertheless significant, proportion of planned Exchequer investment to 2010 will be funded through PPPs.