The underground section of the £500 million (#635 million) LUAS system and the £120 million sewage treatment plant for Dublin Bay are amongst the projects likely to be included in the Government's Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, when it is formerly established later this month.
However, progress in establishing PPPs has been delayed by trade union concerns that the partnerships should not be used to reduce State expenditure on infrastructure.
It is now expected that, to help meet trade union concerns, most PPP projects will be "hybrids". In other words, the private sector may finance and build a wide range of infrastructural projects, but not run them.
Talks have been taking place between the Department of Finance's new PPP unit, the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC), the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) and the trade union movement in recent weeks on terms of reference for the PPP advisory group.
At present these are still at the informal stage and trade union representatives want clear terms of reference to be agreed before going any further.
However, the Departments of Enterprise and Local Government, and Public Enterprise, are continuing discussions on a wide range of transportation, water and waste disposal projects with potential contractors.
SIPTU economist, Mr Paul Sweeney, who is a member of the advisory committee on PPPs, says that the unions are opposed to seeing the partnerships used in order to cut State expenditure. Increased exchequer revenue and capital receipts from the flotation of Telecom Eireann should not be used simply to cut taxes or reduce the national debt, he said.
"From the trade union point of view the PPPs must meet four criteria. They must be additional to State expenditure. They must only be used where the State is unable to meet infrastructural needs. They must speed up the provision of services and they must meet certain basic standards in areas like health and safety, environment and union recognition."
IBEC director Mr Peter Brennan, who is one of the main advocates of the PPP strategy, says he does not envisage any problem in meeting trade union concerns.
"We would agree that if the private sector is involved, it has to be additional expenditure," he said. The chief executive of the CIF, Mr Liam Kelleher said: "I can understand trade union concerns about things like conditions of employment for existing workers in the public sector, but the scale of investment is so great we're not talking about privatisation or substitution here."
Cabinet to approve pilot projects after its Easter break, page 5
