Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 May 2018
22. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the interdepartmental-agency group he established in 2017 to review Ireland's experience of using PPPs will report; the detail of his Department's ongoing work on same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21604/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraA senior-level Inter-Departmental/Agency Group was established last year to review Ireland's experience of PPPs and to make recommendations on the future role of PPPs, in the context of the development of the new 10 year National Development Plan (NDP). The Group reported to me earlier this year and I am currently reviewing their comprehensive report, which I will be publishing shortly after bringing it to Government for information.
However, the key findings and recommendations of the PPP review have already been made public. They were summarised in section 2.2 of the NDP and further detailed in section 6.7 of the Plan.
As noted in the NDP, PPPs have been very useful in the past in facilitating the delivery of important infrastructure projects. This was particularly the case when the Exchequer was seriously constrained in terms of its ability to fund infrastructure directly. The fact that PPPs use private finance, on an off-balance sheet basis, enabled a number of key projects to proceed which would not otherwise have been deliverable on the basis of Exchequer funding alone.
In ensuring Departments obtain the best value-for-money from public capital investment, PPPs, just as traditionally procured projects, are subject to the same robust and rigorous project appraisal process as traditionally procured projects. All projects over €20m are required under the Public Spending Cote to be subject to a Cost Benefit Analysis or Cost Effectiveness Analysis. In addition, all public investment projects of this value must also be referred to the National Development Finance Agency for advice in terms of the options for financing and procuring the projects.
As outlined in the NDP, and as recommended by the PPP Review, PPPs will continue to feature as a procurement option available to Government for appropriately structured projects which demonstrate value for money over a traditional procurement option and which meet the robust and rigorous tests for project appraisal that apply to all public investment projects under the Public Spending Code.
While there are a number of previously announced PPP projects in the pipeline for delivery over the coming years, no further specific additional projects have been identified in the NDP for procurement by PPP at this stage. Rather, it is essential that projects are judged on their merits, on a case by case basis, and if procurement by PPP is found to offer better value-for-money than traditional procurement in the case of the various projects identified for delivery in the NDP, then they should be selected and progressed by the relevant sponsoring Department or agency on that basis.
