Mr. Paul Quinn:

Perhaps I should intervene at this stage. The Deputy raised a number of issues and perhaps I can give a bit of a flavour. First, in relation to the proportion of spend we are targeting to save each year, it is of the order of 2.5% to 3%. Yes, there will be winners and losers in that regard, but the winners will create employment and create jobs. The losers will have to contend with loss of business. There is no doubt in relation to that.

We are looking at this thing holistically, though. We are working on a number of different themes and part of that is around engagement. We have set up a high-level group in conjunction with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to drive and enable SME access to public procurement. We are working with a number of agencies that sit within the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in that regard, including InterTradeIreland and Enterprise Ireland. I chair a group that meets regularly to drive initiatives in that regard.

The thrust we are working on are things like information and education. For example, in 2013 we ran two very large meet the buyer events where SME businesses could meet public sector buyers and try to understand public procurement better in order that they could compete and win business from the public sector. We had about 1,200 suppliers at the event in Dublin and we had about 800 suppliers at the event in Belfast. We are getting SME engagement with regard to looking at how to win public procurement.

As we centralise more, there is always the risk that people feel crowded out. We are working with bodies like Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland to help educate suppliers around building consortia in order that smaller businesses can come together and win the larger offerings that the State is putting out to the marketplace. We are working with the Competition Authority as well to keep everyone safe in that regard.

There is a lot happening here in terms of the education front. This year we will be transposing into law the new European directives which are very business friendly and very SME friendly. They will come into force next year. As part of that, we have engaged with industry.

We have set up a working group as part of our group with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to engage with the Small Firms Association, SFA, Chambers Ireland, IBEC, etc., to get their input into how we can better shape procurement. We want to ensure that small to medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, can be successful in terms of public procurement. We are also changing and investing in our systems to standardise more and remove some of the bureaucracy. The Secretary General mentioned Department of Finance circular 10/10 on promoting SME access. We are in the process of reviewing that circular against the backdrop of the new EU directives to determine which measures we can accelerate so as to reduce barriers for SMEs and enable access for them to compete for business in the public space. We expect to be in a position to produce a new circular in the next one to two months. This will give guidance and set rules for the public sector so as to enable SMEs to compete for business better.