Vol. 550 No. 2
627 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding public private partnerships for the five post-primary schools which he referred to in his reply of 11 October 2000; the structure applied in respect of these post-primary buildings; if this structure is to be applied to new public private partnerships for further educational buildings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7937/02].
I signed the first public private partnership, PPP, contract under the Government's pilot PPP programme on 15 November 2001 with Jarvis plc for the provision of five new post-primary schools.
The new schools, which will cater for about 3,500 pupils, are located in Tubbercurry, 675 pupils; Ballincollig, 1,000; Clones, 500; Dunmanway, 700; and Shannon, 600. The capital value of the schools project is over €81.5 million. The five schools are currently under construction and it is intended that they will be available at the end of 2002.
This pilot project was developed on a design, build, finance and operate basis. While the maintenance and operation of the buildings is a matter for the successful bidder for the duration of the service contract, in this case 25 years, the management of the schools and their day to day running will remain with the school management authorities. The State will retain legal ownership of all properties.
The progress made on this school PPP project, and on other projects currently being developed at third level, demonstrates my strong commitment and that of my Department to the PPP process. I intend to harness the potential of PPPs and I am actively identifying other possible education PPP projects. The particular PPP format applied to any future projects will be assessed as part of the procurement process on a project-by-project basis.
