Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 February 2018
191. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Skills the due diligence that was performed prior to awarding a company (details supplied) a public private partnership or PPP contract to construct a number of schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5570/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraA contract exists between my Department and the PPP Company Inspiredspaces in respect of the Schools Bundle 5 PPP programme. Inspiredspaces is the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) responsible for the design, construction, finance, and maintenance of the buildings included in the programme. A subsidiary of the company referred to by the Deputy is a 50% shareholder in Inspiredspaces (SPV). The other shareholder in the SPV is the Dutch Infrastructure Fund (DIF).
The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) managed the procurement of the Schools Bundle 5 PPP Programme on behalf of my Department. As part of this process, the NDFA carried out technical, legal and financial due diligence of the PPP documentation, the PPP Company consortium and its members, including the company referred to by the Deputy, and their Guarantor. The financial due diligence included a detailed review of the financial standing of the PPP Company's shareholders, consortium members and their Guarantors, which incorporated a review of their audited financial accounts and accompanying independent auditor’s report, in addition to the proposed third party funding structure of the project.
This detailed due diligence did not raise any issues to preclude the award of preferred tenderer status to Inspiredspaces in November 2015 or subsequent contract award in July 2016.
