Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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362. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department has reviewed its position on public-private partnership guidelines following the EUROSTAT and European Investment Bank publication of guidelines on the statistical treatment of public-private partnerships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36081/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Guide to the Statistical Treatment of PPPs published jointly by Eurostat and the European PPP Expertise Centre (EPEC) in September has brought considerable clarity and certainty in relation to how PPP contracts will be assessed by Eurostat for classification purposes and is very helpful in planning future PPPs. The Guide also clarifies the position in relation to the key concerns that the Irish authorities had expressed in relation to the uncertainty that had been created by the revised MGDD which had been issued in March 2016.

My Department has carefully considered the provisions of the new Guide, in conjunction with the NDFA, the CSO and also colleagues responsible for PPP policy in other jurisdictions. NDFA are currently making the necessary changes to the template contract to reflect the requirements of the new Guide in this regard. The CSO will continue to assess PPPs based on finalised contracts and the latest guidance and will confirm this assessment with Eurostat. My Department and the NDFA are confident that the clarity and certainty brought by the latest guidance allows us to continue to procure PPPs based on the template PPP contract currently used by the NDFA (and TII) with only a few relatively minor modifications required to ensure that the projects will continue to be classified as off-balance sheet.