Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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1033. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the public private partnerships his Department is currently engaged in; the name, cost and timeframe of each; the name of all private parties involved; the scope of each project in terms of design and development timeline, build and operate in tabular form; the outrun in respect of deviations from the original agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33579/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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To date, my Department has entered into three public private partnerships in the higher education sector, National Maritime College of Ireland, Cork School of Music and the Grangegorman PPP project.

The National Maritime College of Ireland and Cork School of Music, which are part of Cork Institute of Technology, became operational in 2004 and 2007 respectively. The NMCI provides education and training facilities to service the needs of Cork Institute of Technology and the non-military needs of the Irish Naval Service. The Cork School of Music is a unique facility providing state of the art facilities which includes music studios, rehearsal hall, theatre space, recording and dance studios, classrooms and lecture theatres.

The Grangegorman PPP project will provide state of the art facilities for the TU Dublin Colleges of Sciences and Health, Arts and Tourism and for the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The East Quad is now expected to be completed in the coming weeks and the Central Quad in Q1 2021.

With regard to the query around ‘outrun in relation to deviations from the original contract’, I am taking this to relate to variations, which can be introduced by the State side or by the PPP company. The Grangegorman PPP project remains under construction and the outturn in respect of variations is not yet available. In relation to the CSM and NMCI contracts, the Department has not introduced any variation in recent years. These are three-way contracts to which CIT is also a party.

The other information requested by the Deputy is included in the table beneath. Unitary Charge payments cover the cost of construction, finance, maintenance, operation and lifecycle.

Contracts exist between my Department and the relevant principal contractor, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) responsible for the design, construction and finance of that particular PPP programme, as well as operation of the building in question for the 25 years post construction. The below summary table identifies the relevant SPV in each case.

*Includes Construction related VAT.

In addition, the Department is advancing a higher education PPP programme for the Technological University/Institute of Technology sector. This consists of 11 higher education building projects divided into two bundles. Bundle 1, comprising 6 projects, is at tender stage and Bundle 2, comprising 5 projects, is commencing pre-qualification stage. It is currently projected that Bundle 1 will start construction in Q4 2021 with the first projects completed by Q4 2023. Bundle 2 is anticipated to start construction in Q2 2022 with the first projects completed in Q2/Q3 2024.