Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Minister for Finance the details of print jobs carried out for his Department and being provided by companies based outside the Republic of Ireland; the dates of the awarding of these contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26279/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Since the formation of the present Government on 14 June 2007 to date in 2009 my Department has not sent material abroad for printing.

I have been informed by the Office of Public Works that the Government Supplies Agency placed no contracts on behalf of the Department of Finance in the years 2007-2009 with printers from outside the state. They have also informed me that their records indicate that there were no contracts or orders placed by Office of Public Works with printing companies outside Ireland under Government Supplies Agency contracts during the period in question.

In relation to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the Office of Public Works awarded two printing contracts to firms outside Ireland in the relevant period. The first of these, for a security overlay for C2 cards is a proprietary product and was awarded to a company based in Switzerland called Ovd Kinegram Ag in July 2007. The other contract, awarded in October 2008 to Howitt Limited, Nottinghamshire, England, was for the production of 2.5 million copies of a 16 page information booklet on the PAYE system and was valued at €96,618.40 (excluding VAT) The Contract was publicly advertised, to be awarded to the firm submitting the lowest suitable tender. Howitt submitted the lowest of 14 tenders and met all the requirements of the tender competition.