Mr. Dave O'Reilly:

The figures that were given to the Deputy are at odds with the figures given to us in the High-Level Group on Business Regulation from the Office of Government Procurement. It said that the figure was 15%. However, it qualifies that by saying 15% was lost to the island of Ireland. One of the members at the meeting went berserk. He wondered when we annexed the North and asked what is the figure for the State. The figure for the State was 27%. The Office of Government Procurement is saying 27%. The Minister is saying something different. Somebody is wrong. I do not know who is wrong.

The next thing I wish to mention is the lovely circular, the replacement for circular 10 of 2010. However, the Minister forgot to mention the publication of another circular, circular 16 of 2013. This threatens public sector bodies, if they do not comply with its terms, with an audit from the Comptroller and Auditor General. No public sector body wants to draw this down on itself; it makes the decision that it is easier to go with it. There are two circulars. One saying all the right things, which the Minister can show to the Deputy. One saying the opposite, which is applied to us. We must have consistency. If two circulars are going to be published, tell everyone about them. People in public sector bodies are doing their jobs; they do not want to be drawing trouble down on top of themselves. The most ironic thing about the whole situation is that when the Comptroller and Auditor General went to get a managed print service, a decision was taken not to use the framework produced by the Office of Government Procurement. That speaks volumes. The people who are policing it say it is bad. However, everyone else is forced to use it.