The public private informal advisory group on public-private partnerships, which is chaired by the Department of Finance, has met on 17 occasions since 1 January 2002. The membership includes representatives from the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Construction Industry Federation, the members of the interdepartmental group on PPPs and officials of the Department of Finance.
The framework for public private partnerships, November 2001, developed under the terms of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and via the informal advisory group, sets out a statement of principles for the development of PPPs in Ireland. The advisory group has been very helpful in developing the PPP process in Ireland and it provides a forum for relevant officials and social partners to meet. The role outlined for the informal advisory group in the 2001 framework is to help to develop partnership arrangements with the private sector by reflecting the interests of the relevant social partners in the area of PPPs and to facilitating the parties involved to exchange views and information.
The work programme of the group from 2002 to date has focused on consultation in regard to the programme of technical guidance brought forward by the central PPP unit in the Department of Finance, on the exchange of views in regard to issues affecting the development of the PPP process to date and in providing clarifications as necessary in regard to progress on individual PPP projects. To date, the guidelines issued following consultation with the informal advisory group and the inter-departmental group on PPPs include:- interim guidelines on the procedures for the assessment, approval, audit and procurement of PPP projects; Revenue guidelines on the corporation tax treatment of PPP agreements; guidelines on the role and function of the process auditor; guidelines on stakeholder consultation for employees and their representatives.