Vol. 526 No. 4
343 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Science the legislation which is required to be introduced to implement public private partnership projects under the national development plan which come under his Departmental control; when he will publish any such legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26891/00]
My Department is currently undertaking a limited number of pilot PPP projects and I am advised that the current legislation is sufficient. My Department, in consultation with other Departments and the public-private informal advisory group, will keep the legislative position under review for any future projects in the education sector.
344 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Science if his Department has a public private partnership section; the number of staff allocated to this section; the specific projects being dealt with by this section; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26906/00]
My Department has a public private partnership unit staffed by a principal officer and an assistant principal officer.
The projects currently being procured under public private partnership – PPP – are: a bundle of five new post-primary schools located in Clones, Dunmanway, Tubbercurry, Shannon and Ballincollig; Cork School of Music; and National Maritime College, Ringaskiddy.
In respect of the five schools and the School of Music, the shortlisting of interested bidders and the invitation to tender process is under way. A target date for occupation of the new premises is September 2002. The National Maritime College is being procured as a PPP project by my Department in association with the Cork Institute of Technology and the Irish Naval Service and is at an earlier stage of planning. An advertisement seeking expressions of interest for management consultancy services was forwarded to the official journal of the European Communities in August and a similar advertisement placed in the national media on 7 September. In addition, an application for outline planning permission for the new college was lodged with Cork County Council in September.
All the projects have representatives from the various stakeholders on project teams and attend regular meetings with my officials. The officials of the PPP unit also represent my Department on a number of interdepartmental groups established to support the public private partnership process.
