Vol. 501 No. 6
226 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has authorised the participation by his Department or any relevant State body in any public-private partnership; the num ber, if any, of these projects under way; if there are any possible public-private partnerships under negotiation between his Department and private investors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6713/99]
The concept of PPPs has only recently emerged in this country in terms of possible application to the public service. It is within this context that my Department is exploring the potential of PPP arrangements to determine whether these may be viable funding options to meet priority requirements in the future.
It is worth noting that various partnerships involving health agencies and the private sector have been undertaken in recent years. Such initiatives could be regarded as containing various elements of accepted PPP models and include, for example, car-parking agreements at general hospital sites and arrangements for a new cross-Border healthcare risk waste service.
