Vol. 568 No. 1
403 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if, in view of the problems surrounding the construction of the Cork School of Music under public private partnership, he will consider halting plans to expand the uses of this scheme. [16029/03]
The Government is committed to addressing the country's infrastructural deficiencies in an efficient and cost effective manner. In this regard, a new agency, the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA, was established on 1 January 2003 and all Departments must now seek the advice of the agency on the best financing approach for most projects, including public private partnerships.
The issues in relation to the Cork School of Music public private partnership project are mainly in respect of the treatment of PPPs in the general Government balance and are not indicative of difficulties with the PPP process in general. Ultimately the final approval for any future education PPP projects will be based on a thorough assessment of affordability of the projects in the context of the competing demands on the likely capital funding envelopes going forward and taking into account issues surrounding the general Government balance.
