I am pleased that my Department is participating in the Government's programme on public private partnerships – PPP – and specifically in the pilot programme of infrastructure projects.
I believe that PPPs have significant potential in relation to developing new ideas on school design which arise from the output-based approach, testing value for money over the lifecycle of the projects, making better use of educational facilities outside of school hours, allowing educationalists to concentrate on their core functions and optimising allocation of risk in areas such as planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of facilities.
To date, my Department has included three projects in the Government's PPP pilot programme. These are the Cork School of Music, five new post-primary schools in Ballincollig, Clones, Dunmanway, Shannon and Tubbercurry which are grouped as one project, and the proposed National Maritime College, Ringaskiddy, Cork.