Mr. Fergal O'Brien:

I thank the Chairman and the joint committee for the invitation. I will offer a brief introduction and then ask my colleague, Mr. Aidan Sweeney, an IBEC specialist in this area, to talk members through some of the detailed content.

IBEC has 7,500 members in business throughout all sectors of the economy. Within it there are 60 trade associations, many of which have a keen interest in the area of public procurement. The issues relevant to small business and SMEs are addressed extensively throughout the IBEC network. In particular, the Small Firms Association is part of the IBEC family. Given our direct membership interests, there is considerable interest in procurement which represents a significant sector of the economy.

Our priorities for public policy include supporting investment in the economy, of which public procurement is an important dimension. Supporting public sector efficiency and driving better government are important also. We have a strong agenda in terms of the need for efficiency in public expenditure. We believe in supporting entrepreneurship, start-ups and innovation and see public procurement as being a significant factor in that policy domain.

A final significant policy issue for us is helping our members to be successful in export markets. Again, we see public procurement as being a significant factor in helping companies to find business opportunities internationally. That is the IBEC context in dealing with the broad range of policy issues in the general field of public procurement.

I call on my colleague, Mr. Sweeney, to talk members through some of the detail. He leads our better government and, in particular, public procurement agenda.