National Development Finance Agency to discuss PPP policies with Finance Committee

The Committee is exploring how PPPs are awarded, structured and insured following the January 2018 collapse of the Carillion Group, one of the UK’s largest construction companies with a significant PPP contract to build schools in Ireland.

The National Development Finance Agency, an arm of the NTMA, advises government departments on financing infrastructural projects including through PPP contracts. Current projects under its remit include the construction of dozens of schools, medical facilities, courthouses and social housing developments.

Among witnesses scheduled to attend the meeting at 11 a.m. in Committee Room 3 are:

• NDFA Head of Finance and Operations Gerard Cahillane, and 
• Department of Public Expenditure and Reform officials.

Mr. Cahillane previously spoke to the Committee at its July 3 meeting.

“The Committee is keen to identify lessons to be learned from Carillion’s liquidation and to explore new ideas for ensuring that future PPP-financed projects will be delivered as planned,” said Committee Chairman John McGuinness TD.

“The NDFA plays a central role in crafting PPP agreements across the State,” Deputy McGuinness said. “The Committee seeks to understand fully why Carillion was selected for the school-building contract. More broadly, our Committee hopes to apply these lessons so that the NDFA and other relevant State actors can ensure that every private enterprise selected for PPP projects involves a verifiably reliable partner. This is essential given the ambitions of the Government’s National Development Plan.”

The meeting can be viewed live here.

It also can be viewed live on Android and Apple devices using the Houses of the Oireachtas app.