Mr. Paul Quinn:

The abnormally low tender process occurs as part of a procurement process. Before we do that, we assess the market, consider how big the Government is in the context of the overall market, how concentrated it is, and see how strong the competition is and how international or national it is. That enables us to take a view of how we approach the market and whether to approach it in big or small lots. We do not want to create monopolies or distort markets. That is why we do a lot of work with the Competition Authority to ensure when we bring a dynamic to the marketplace, we do so in a way that maintains healthy competition in the marketplace for the long term. It is in our interest as a State that markets stay competitive and contestable.