The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Dáil is calling for legislation to allow it to examine the way public funds are used by private firms in public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
The recommendation is made in a report to be published by the committee today. At present, the committee is precluded on grounds of commercial confidentiality from carrying out an examination in this regard.
The committee, consisting of six Government and six Opposition TDs, found what political sources called "a grey area", whereby private companies can place an obstacle in the way of its investigations. "The accounting should be done on a more transparent basis," sources close to the committee said. It is part of the committee's role to examine whether the State got value for money on a particular project, eg, building a motorway or a school, carried out in partnership with a commercial firm or if the work could have been done at less cost by the State acting on its own.
The committee raised the commercial confidentiality issue with the Department of Finance but, according to PAC sources, the department "didn't deal adequately with our concerns". According to committee sources, the department responded that "the present working arrangement is satisfactory."
It is understood the report recommends that details of PPP contracts should eventually be publicly disclosed, three months after the work is completed. Even where there were compelling reasons why these details could not be publicly disclosed at that time, they should be available to the committee, it says.
The report is believed to cite examples of Australia and Canada in support of this recommendation. While pressing for maximum transparency, the report is understood to acknowledge the need for safeguards for commercial firms so that they would not be undermined by the disclosure of information.
PPPs have been increasing in number over recent years and expanding into areas which were traditionally the sole preserve of the State, such as transport networks, along with educational and other public facilities.
The draft report was prepared by Green Party finance spokesman Dan Boyle TD, rapporteur of the committee and agreed by the committee on March 8th.
The PAC is chaired by Fine Gael TD Michael Noonan and this is its first interim report of 2007.
Other members of the committee are: John McGuinness (Fianna Fáil, vice chairman), Seán Ardagh (FF), John Curran (FF), John Deasy (Fine Gael), John Dennehy (FF), Seán Fleming (FF), Tom Hayes (FG), Joe Higgins (Socialist Party), Michael Smith (FF) and Joan Burton (Labour).