Metronet are going bust. (See this link from The Guardian unlimited)
Ernst & Young are taking over. The fundamental revelation (a misnomer; the news is being spun) is out: PPP is an arrangement where the taxpayer is the funder of ultimate recourse.
That means that the management of PPP contracts is handed to the private sector; the opportunity for profit is handed to the private sector; but, the shouldering of loss is on the public.
In fact it appears that PPP is the public sector equivalent of Enron accounting and Gordon Browne is in the middle of the mess. He it was who drove the scheme.
See my earlier post on the issue of large Public Procurement Contracts HERE.
If the lawyers of the City of London appear unable to produce an appropriate contract to protect the public, why should we believe the lawyers of the City of Dublin will do any better?
(I am fully conscious of the recriminations from Cork, Limerick and Galway heading in my direction).