Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have two final questions. On the issue of procurement, my understanding was that 28 contracts have effectively been granted to date for various different projects. How many of those were given that did not go out to tender, that were extensions for existing contractors within Bord Gáis?

I have further questions. Mr. Tierney stated that every contract worth over €10 million had to be approved by Bord Gáis. How many contracts were approved by Bord Gáis that were not put out to tender? A total of €13 million was spent on approximately 22 contractors. How many of those contracts were not put out to tender? I ask Mr. Tierney to deal with the issue of bonuses which arose yesterday. Irish Water is a State organisation - I will have a question for Ms Tallon on this issue - which was established using taxpayers' money. It is the case that bonuses are not a feature of the public sector in general. How can a bonus regime in Bord Gáis be justified? I ask Mr. Tierney to deal with the bonuses first because I want to ask Ms Tallon about the other issue. How can he justify implementing a bonus system in a public body which is funded by the taxpayer? Such a system does not apply in the public sector, nor in many other organisations. I understand that employees who transferred from other State bodies such as the local authorities could not gain. I do not doubt these are very good employees, but these are issues of value for money, structures, corporate governance and ensuring transparency for the taxpayer. How did this situation come about?