Ireland follows UK, Canada and Australia on PPP path

Ireland is considering using public private partnerships (PPPs) to solve its school-building issues, the Irish Independent reports.

Education minister Batt O'Keeffe had been discussing PPP financing for new schools with the National Treasury Management Agency, the paper said.

The move follows similar PPP initiatives, covered in Subtext over the past couple of years, in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada

The Department of Education was already using the method to build some large schools, and had been urged to 'bundle' smaller primary schools together to make them attractive for large building companies, the Independent reported.

The PPPs had the advantage of helping the government stay within its EU borrowing limits – by spreading payments out over 30 years or more. Under the PPP method, private developers would agree to build and maintain schools on behalf of the state for a period of up to 30 years in return for fixed annual payments.

The Irish state has been criticised for paying too much for the first five schools built using the PPP method, but maintained they were now being built faster and more cheaply than the traditional contract method.

Resources

The Independent story is at this web page.

Information on education PPPs in Australia is at this Subtext web page.

Information on education PPPs in the United Kingdom is at this Subtext web page.

Information on education PPPs in Canada is at this Subtext web page.