Vol. 511 No. 6
13 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if he will make a statement on the terms of reference of the Cabinet Sub-committee on Infrastructural Development and Public Private Partnership; and the number of times the committee has met. [24343/99]
14 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the terms of reference and the membership of the Cabinet Sub-committee on Infrastructural Development and Public Private Partnership; when the committee last met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24544/99]
15 Mr. Yates asked the Taoiseach the number of times the Cabinet Sub-committee on Infrastructural Development and Public Private Partnership has met since it was established; and the proposals, if any, in relation to institutional reform to implement public private partnership projects which have evolved from the committee. [24890/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 to 15, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet Sub-committee on Infrastructural Development and Public Private Partnership, which I chair, includes the Tánaiste, the Ministers for Finance, Public Enterprise, Environment and Local Government, Justice Equality and Law Reform and the Attorney General. The general purpose of the committee is to oversee the delivery of key infrastructure in the context of the national development plan.
The Cabinet sub-committee is assisted by a cross-departmental team drawn from those Departments. The terms of reference of the team are to develop and oversee the implementation of a framework for action and, in particular, to bring forward proposals to deal with planning approval issues to reduce delays in infrastructure delivery – these could include proposals for legislative and constitutional change; support development and implementation of public private partnerships and could support the ongoing work of the Cabinet committee.
During the summer, the Team produced the "Framework for Action on Infrastructural Development including Public Private Partnership" which was approved by the Cabinet sub-committee in September and subsequently by the Government. The key elements of the framework have been included in the national development plan. I have arranged for copies of the framework for action to be laid before the House.
Following the finalisation and publication of the national development plan, I see the Cabinet committee playing a key role in ensuring that the core national roads and public transport priorities of the plan are implemented efficiently and on time. To that end I am arranging for the committee to meet on a regular basis.
The committee had meetings with CIE and the National Roads Authority last week to discuss the two agencies' plans to ensure the timely delivery of the priority objectives in the national development plan. Both meetings were worthwhile and both agencies assured the Cabinet committee that they are putting in place the necessary internal procedures to ensure that the greatly increased expenditure provided for in the national development plan will result in the timely delivery of projects and services.
To date, the Cabinet committee has met three times and the cross-departmental team has met ten times. The committee has not yet considered institutional reform to implement public private partnership projects, given that arrangements and structures to implement such projects have recently been put in place under the aegis of the Minister for Finance and are working well.
Does the Taoiseach believe an amendment to the Constitution will be necessary to ensure that commitments made in the national development plan in respect of infrastructural development are fulfilled?
If necessary, that will be the case. The examination is nearing completion and we will be obliged to make a decision thereafter.
Is the Taoiseach in a position to indicate the likely timeframe within which consideration of this issue will take place? Does he agree that prolonged uncertainty regarding whether a constitutional amendment should be introduced would be the worst of all possible outcomes in the sense that projects may be delayed in anticipation of its introduction or that efforts, which might be better devoted to other projects, may be invested in drawing up such an amendment?
We will have to await the report's completion before making a decision. However, the current view is that streamlining court arrangements, processing matters through the courts and putting in place a more co-ordinated system might be an adequate solution. I had believed that the position in other countries was different but, on examination, we discovered that it is not. The system used to process matters, the length of time taken to make preparations and the general administration of the courts all help to create enormous delays.
We must take conclusive action and this might require the introduction of amendments to the Planning and Development Bill. The position is currently being considered in that regard. We are very conscious, however, that early decisions must be made on this issue and I hope they can be taken before Christmas.
Has the Cabinet sub-committee definitively identified specific projects that will be the subject of public private partnership initiatives? If so, will the Taoiseach provide details of those projects? Has a formal decision been made to request the Courts Commission to assign a special division of the High Court to expedite legal queries into infrastructural developments? Has the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform been asked, under existing arrangements, to investigate whether the President of the High Court can assign a section of the court to deal with these matters?
In the context of the Taoiseach's meeting with the National Roads Authority tomorrow, is he aware we are not empowered legally to undertake a motorway project, for example, along the N4 from Dublin to Galway, which passes through five local authority areas, where the Executive decisions will involve only one public inquiry? Given that each county must be dealt with separately, five local authorities are involved. Is he further aware that this institutional hand trip exists in regard to holding a single inquiry for a single project so that it goes through due process and does not deny the rights of any person? Does the Cabinet sub-committee propose to amend the Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act, 1974, or, alternatively, the planning legislation currently before the Seanad to deal with this matter?
With regard to PPP projects, we have identified roughly the areas where money should be allocated. Pilot projects are in place but we have not completed the full range of projects because of the many tendering and legal issues to be resolved. We have considered what happened in Portugal and in other countries which have been successful in this regard. We must follow tendering arrangements and there are many complexities in our law generally. We are examining how this can be dealt with.
There are no specific projects yet?
Except the pilot projects that have been announced, some of which will commence next year. A total of £1.58 billion has been allocated to PPPs – £1 billion for roads, £300 million for public transport, £550 million for environmental projects. This is a minimum target and I do not envisage any problem with the pilot projects.
With regard to the courts, we are moving towards the view that a single court is the way to proceed. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Courts Commission support that view and are examining how best to do that. The Deputy accurately described the problem with regard to motorway projects. Our advice is that legislation is required to overcome that. We have examined the case history of motorways, bypasses and roundabouts that have been constructed in the past ten to 15 years to reach a conclusion on this. Our advice is that one inquiry is needed but, more importantly, one legal team to deal with the project throughout the process. We hope to achieve that and we are advised that it can be done legislatively. The arrangement would be that we would adopt a super-motorway model to avoid indents along the way and one legal or administrative grouping would handle the entire operation.
Is the Taoiseach aware of the criticism of the weakness of PPP units in the Departments of Finance, the Environment and Local Government and Public Enterprise and the need to set up a new dynamic quasi-commercial directorate to manage PPP projects? International experience is that a commercial dynamic is needed to make it happen and whether it involves only designing and building or designing, building and operating in the case of transport projects, there is a need for a new structural approach. Has the sub-committee considered institutional reform in terms of setting up such a directorate?
When does the Taoiseach envisage that Departments will be in a position to send out the various recommendations on PPPs to local authorities to ensure the development and operation of projects gets under way?
The information on the pilot projects is available from the Minister for the Environment and Local Government. I am sure it is being communicated because local authorities are involved in them. However, the Deputy can get the details from the Department of the Environment and Local Government if he wishes.
Regarding Deputy Yates's points, structures in other countries have been considered and there were detailed discussions with the NRA last week. The NRA has taken on a huge number of staff but, unfortunately, most of the consultancy in the financial, legal and technical framework will probably have to be brought in. The NRA is already considering that possibility and is making progress on it. A huge number of the projects will involve outside consultants.
I am open to correction but I understand the first project which went to tender was the port tunnel. There are ten consortiums and while some of them include Irish involvement, most of the interest is from outside. Expertise from other countries is already involved. While the internal staff will deal with the administrative structure and the NRA's staff will also be involved, regrettably, the substantial element of professional expertise will come from outside the country.
