Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Cardiff and his team. I share my colleagues' concern about the increasing error rate, which is hardly good news. As regards the agriculture sector, I was heartened to hear Mr. Fennessy say Ireland was not high in the error, misappropriation or irregularities rankings. My own observations support that view. From my constituency work, I know that the bulk of farmers' mapping errors are genuine and there should be some system to accommodate this fact. The penalty does not fit the crime for many innocent farmers in this regard, although that is not in any way to condone malpractice. Mr. Fennessy's submission suggests attempted malpractice is rare.

On procurement, there is a policy issue. Will the delegates comment on how it can be addressed? In my constituency small indigenous firms in the construction or plant hire sector find it difficult to compete under existing procurement rules. In Ireland we may be a little over zealous in adopting stringent procurement rules. Can the court allow tenders up to a certain threshold and exclude international or external competitors up to a point? Current procurement rules are certainly not supportive of small indigenous construction or plant hire firms. Will the delegates comment on this, bearing in mind that they are not policy makers? I appreciate that fact, but I wish to draw their attention to this point and it would be remiss of me not do so, as it arises in much of my constituency work. The Chairman will also be aware that small plant hire or construction firms find that they are not at the races in competing for procurement contracts, particularly given the level of competition in the Border area.

I understand the European Court of Auditors has produced a special report on the issue of rural development. I would be interested in hearing how the European Union's rural development budget is being spent. Does the outcome of the report suggest the Union's rural development budget is being spent satisfactorily? As this issue has arisen in recent times in our work, I would be interested in hearing the delegates' comments on it.

To put it succinctly, there are three issues that I have come across in my work. First, there is the fact that many innocent people make mapping errors, yet they get into a lot of trouble over it. Second, small indigenous firms are not at the races owing to current procurement rules.

Third, there is the lack of an acknowledgement of the excellent job being done in the delivery of the rural development budget. I would welcome a comment from Mr. Cardiff in that regard.