Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of public procurement, these directives do not specifically deal with questions such as whether one can build into one's procurement criteria things like the level of unemployment. However, under existing public procurement rules it is possible to include things like unemployment in a region. I know that the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Hayes, is looking at this with a view to using it in an Irish context. I do not think it is possible to refer to the local wages being paid. In other words, one cannot give an explicit preference to one country over another or one region over another but one can recognise unemployment as a feature and the taking on of people who are unemployed. Public procurement rules are not solely based on lowest cost and other issues are taken into account. In the context of these directives, the aim is to allow unbundling and to allow more flexibility to achieve value for money.

I will ask my colleague Mr. Philip Kelly to address the question about customs union.