"Ireland saw its first true PPPs in the period 1999 to 2000, " said Michele Connolly, a partner in KPMG corporate finance. "We have been involved in the PPP process since 2000 and have advised the public sector since the time of the first big NRA projects, and continue to act as an advisor on this 3 billion programme."

From a public sector perspective, KPMG's role begins at the outset, essentially identifying what the parameters of the project will actually be, as well as helping to ascertain what the extent of the role of the private sector within the project . . . establishing what exactly the state wants the private sector to deliver. It has been involved in road projects, the court service project (establishing the scope of the service transfer to the private sector) and various other high profile projects including the prestigious contract to build the new National Conference Centre at Spencer Dock in Dublin.

Other roles for KPMG include delineating the financial structure of the project (including identifying the costs to the state, and ensuring that it gets value for money from the private sector), creating the commercial debt structures and even helping to run the competition (the tender, negotiations with banks, etc).

Of course, KPMG will also act for the private sector, structuring the deal, advising on how the client can get value for money, and sourcing the fundraising (organising the debt finance from local and international sources).

So, given its experience with PPPs, where does KPMG see the benefits of the PPP structure for both sides of what is essentially the same coin?

"A lot of the benefits are to do with value for money, " said Connolly. "Through a PPP structure where the private sectors own money is at risk, experience has shown that the private sector has been more careful with its finances, and if there is a problem with the project, rather than renegotiating the whole thing with the State, the private sector will work harder to find a solution without increasing the costs to itself. And, from the state perspective, a PPP works in terms of delivery, with fewer time delays and fewer cost overruns. All PPP roads projects to date have come in ahead-of-time, and all have come in within budget . . . this is very different to the traditional public experience of infrastructure delivery."

However, this does not necessarily mean that a PPP is a panacea for all of the state's major projects . . . although Ireland is seen within Europe as a success story in pioneering the PPP process in new and innovative ways.

"PPPs are not necessarily suited to all sectors, " said Connolly. "So the government has to decide at the beginning if the process is suitable for a given project. For example, PPPs have not worked in the IT sector in the UK, although to date, the Irish government has not brought any PPPs to market that haven't worked here. We feel that there is a lot more potential in this country for PPPs, and transport is one sector that is delivering PPP's. But there are other sectors which should be looked at more closely. PPP has been proven to work so why not bring more projects to market. The private sector needs a strong pipeline of projects to be able to deliver real value to the state" Indeed, KPMG is already working in the transport sector, and in addition to advising the National Roads Authority, KPMG is also advising the Railway Procurement Agency on the Dublin Metro Project.

"Internationally, Ireland is viewed as being up with the best of countries as an example of a state which has built up a PPP market, and which has done it well, " said Connolly. "And the message out there from a PPP perspective, for both the public and private sector, is let's have more of them."