Mr. Brendan Bannigan:

Very quickly, there is a disconnect between procurement and the results of procurement. I am a book supplier and started selling books in one of Senator Quinn's shops. We do not need to imagine what is going to happen in library supply with tendering; it has already happened in the UK. As Mr. O'Brien mentioned, all the small suppliers are completely gone. Over the same ten-year period, although I cannot make an absolute connect between these, issues from libraries in the UK decreased by 75%.

Libraries in the UK are in crisis and are closing. The Irish libraries are vibrant. Their issues are increasing year by year. They are getting great service from local suppliers. I am a full-time library supplier and I employ people just to do library supply. The libraries, by definition, are services, delivering a service to the community. Just to purchase books on price alone - and we have tenders here where the criteria demanded 100% on price with nothing for service - is anathema to libraries. We have seen what happened in the UK, we know what is going to happen here. We are all going to go out of business and eventually libraries will go out of business too, if we follow the UK course. We are too small a country, our companies are too small and it is perverse to bring in a Government policy that discriminates against local suppliers. That is not just me saying that; it was stated in a Chambers Ireland press release on the Dún Laoghaire tender for book supply this year. They said that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was discriminating against local suppliers in issuing that tender and that was perverse and should not be allowed to happen. I call on the members to do something about it, to make sure something happens and that we get a result out of this meeting. I hope we are not just creating a report here that will go on a shelf while nothing happens.