Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement this morning by the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, which appears to indicate a radical change in the manner in which public procurement will be undertaken in this country. In reality, there are far too many people in the Civil Service engaged in this practise. It appears that the Minister has the power under the Croke Park agreement to redeploy such workers. I welcome this streamlining of the public procurement process. Currently, this function is carried out by approximately 600 or 700 people, which is completely over the top. It would be more appropriate to have fewer people with the relevant expertise performing this function. Cost savings is obviously the main driver in this regard. However, there needs to be a social conscience aspect to the decision making in our public procurement process to ensure the selection of Irish producers and service providers over multinational or foreign companies, even where the cost of doing so is slightly higher.

Obviously, there are EU laws on the free movement of goods and services, competition, etc. No one is encouraging the breaking of the law, but we must find a way to support Irish businesses. The House could debate the issue of public procurement with the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, in the near future.