Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am making the point to the Minister. I am sure he appreciates the seriousness of it.

Second, the new directive on public procurement was agreed almost three months ago at European level. The purpose of the directive is to make better use of the procurement procedure to support wider social goals. The Government has 24 months to introduce the legislation to implement the directive. Many small and medium enterprises, SMEs, are effectively locked out of procurement because the current rules are so restrictive, so this directive is a good advance. I urge the Government to deal with it legislatively with all due haste. When does it propose to bring forward that legislation?

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