David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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47. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of Exchequer funds that are set aside each year to service debt and-or repayment liabilities associated with public private partnerships for each of the years 2001 to 2015; the amount of Exchequer funds set aside to service debt and-or repayment liabilities associated with public private partnerships for each of the years from 2016 to 2041; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17480/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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To the extent that Exchequer expenditure is not matched by Exchequer revenue, the difference, known as the Exchequer Borrowing Requirement or EBR, is funded through borrowing undertaken by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

It is worth making the point that singling out the gross EBR implications of a single transaction or group of transactions would represent, at best, a very narrow view and, at worst, be misleading. For example, Public Private Partnership (PPP's) mean that we have vital infrastructure in place that contributes to our economic growth. Aside from the employment involved in its delivery, such infrastructure supports ongoing employment, both directly and indirectly. So the economy and the public finances benefit and this should be borne in mind.

As regards the cost to the Exchequer from unitary payments arising from PPP's, this is a matter, in the first instance, for my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe.

However, my officials have been advised by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that the Exchequer paid out about €225 million of PPP unitary payments in 2015. This relates to the significant infrastructure projects that have been completed using the PPP model since the late 1990s.

I also understand that a range of PPP's in the health, justice, transport and education areas are due to begin operations over the coming years, while work is also progressing on Phase 2 of the PPP programme (social housing) announced by the Government in Budget 2015, which will also be delivered over the coming years.  The unitary payment charges in respect of these new PPPs will, as they come into service, add to the existing annual cost of unitary payments. 

When all of the current planned PPPs are delivered, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform forecast that the total cost of unitary payments is expected to climb to a peak at c.€380m in 2021.

The cost of unitary payments beyond 2021 depends on whether additional projects are added. If not, the c. €380 million level in 2021 will continue annually until about 2035 (indexed for inflation) before declining as PPP contracts are completed and drop out of the payments.

Furthermore, PPP costs are published in the Revised Estimates Volume each year, in the relevant subheads of the relevant Departments.