Written answers

Thursday, 17 July 2025

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Public Private Partnerships

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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257. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to clarify which Department or agency holds overall responsibility for the monitoring, governance, and financial oversight of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects across the State; and if he will provide a list of all Departments, bodies or agencies currently involved in PPP project delivery or management. [40402/25]

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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258. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if a central register or database of all active and completed Public-Private Partnership projects exists; and if so, to provide a link or reference to this register, including project name, sponsoring Department, value, start/end dates and any annual cost commitments. [40403/25]

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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259. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to outline the reporting obligations that are in place for Departments or agencies involved in Public-Private Partnership projects (PPPs); and whether Departments are required to report on PPP expenditure, contract variations, long-term liabilities, or performance metrics to any central oversight body or the Oireachtas. [40404/25]

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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260. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide a breakdown of the annual expenditure on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects for each of the past ten years, in tabular form; and to indicate the projected liabilities and repayment schedules due over the lifetime of existing PPP contracts. [40405/25]

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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261. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to confirm if value-for-money reviews, audits, or post-project evaluations are required for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects; and if so, to provide a list of all PPPs reviewed in the past five years, the reviewing body, and whether those reviews are published. [40406/25]

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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262. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide a list of all Public-Private Partnership projects under his remit, including project name, contract value, and start/end date since 2010; and to confirm whether any projects have been subject to cost overruns, renegotiation or early termination since 2010. [40420/25]

Photo of Jack ChambersJack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 257, 258, 259, 260, 261 and 262 together.

My primary role in relation to PPPs is to facilitate the PPP process centrally by developing the general policy framework (including, where necessary, the legal framework) and the capital investment policy framework within which PPPs operate, and by providing central guidance to Departments and other State Authorities in that context. A full suite of guidance covering the PPP process is published on the gov.ie website at www.gov.ie/en/public-private-partnership/campaigns/public-private-partnership/

Responsibility for individual PPP and concession projects, including financial responsibility, responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines and PPP guidance, planning, management, implementation and post-project reviews rests with the relevant Sponsoring Department or agency and in that regard I can confirm that there are no PPP projects under my remit.

In ensuring Departments obtain the best value for money from public capital investment, PPPs are subject to the same robust and rigorous project appraisal process as traditionally procured projects. It is essential that projects are judged on their merits and in cases where PPPs can be demonstrated to give better value for money than traditional procurement, it is appropriate that they should be selected on that basis.

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are partnerships between the public and private sectors for the purpose of delivering a project or service and is an internationally recognised model to design, build, finance, operate and maintain public infrastructure. Some of the advantages associated with PPPs are that they allow the public sector to avail of private sector expertise and innovation and the private partner assumes responsibility for a considerable portion of the risk. The contracts tend to be long term arrangements, typically spanning 25 years after construction or more.

Construction of the first PPP project (Schools Pilot project) was completed over 20 years ago in 2002. The infrastructure is scheduled to be handed back to the State in 2027. The PPP company must comply with contractually stipulated hand-back requirements that necessitates the assets to be returned in a pre-agreed condition and meeting specific residual life requirements.

In total there are now 30 PPP projects in operation in the following sectors:

  • Transport – 15 projects
  • Education – 9 projects
  • Housing – 2 projects
  • Justice – 2 projects
  • Health – 1 project
  • OPW – 1 project
In 2025 approximately €370 million will be spent by Departments in respect of PPP unitary payments. This equates to just 2.3% of the overall gross capital allocation for 2025 of almost €16 billion. The future liabilities for all existing PPP operational projects over the next 20 years has been calculated at €5.7 billion or an average of approximately €285 million per year over the period. However, these figures will increase as new projects reach financial close. The following table sets out the aggregate PPP unitary payments over the coming years.


Year


Amount


Year


Amount


2025


366,967,852


2039


272,611,349


2026


374,579,008


2040


261,632,803


2027


369,561,676


2041


244,936,178


2028


359,315,030


2042


215,289,602


2029


361,342,060


2043


114,675,636


2030


352,949,373


2044


103,097,363


2031


363,777,957


2045


62,363,593


2032


362,906,656


2046


8,420,644


2033


357,240,559


2047


111,374


2034


353,505,943


2048


0


2035


321,742,029


2049


7,629,139


2036


296,848,223


2050


8,141,023


2037


280,526,845


2051


20,576,365


2038


282,920,354


2052


14,571,510
Further information on individual PPP projects including details of the sponsoring Department, construction capital cost, start/end dates and annual cost commitments can be found on the gov.ie website at www.gov.ie/en/public-private-partnership/publications/projects/

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