Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the items of information that has struck me is that the Government has not yet fully collected information on State spending. For any enterprise looking in, to imagine that we have not been collecting this information to date is quite shocking. One cannot manage if one cannot measure. From working with small businesses, it is clear the procurement system in this country is a disaster from the perspective of small businesses. I am glad to see moves are afoot to change that. One of the great debates in this committee is how much money leaks from the State in State procurement. If we have roughly €8.5 billion, we have heard estimates of 28%, 27% and 20%. Some people save 15% on an island basis, others say 5%. It is a key piece of information because it determines policy by the State.

Can we have an example of the average size of tenders over the past three years? This will show us the trend. There is an argument over the bundling and unbundling of tenders to make them accessible to small businesses. My understanding where there is a debate about Bantry versus Berlin, we tend more towards the Berlin side more than other countries tend towards external businesses. That is not a good thing. We must fulfil our responsibilities within the law but we must also promote Irish businesses. The issue of consortia is a difficult issue for small businesses. We heard presentations that indicated no clear line of development with regards to consortia and their ability to access larger contracts. Many felt they would be criminally liable if they entered the space where they could be identified as a cartel. That line was not clear.

We also heard that prequalification criteria were often set before the size of the contract was identified. Contracts that were supposed to be €100 million had prequalification set and the initial tender went out for €16 million, with inflated prequalification criteria. In my work, I came across cases of contractors who bought tenders due to the cost issue. They pitch for a tender below the cost of reasonable delivery and then squeeze either subcontractors or workers along the supply chain. We see that workers at the Kishoge site are on strike because they receive a wage less than €5 an hour. The issue of economic costs has been identified as part of the new policy change. Will the economic costs include taxes forgone by the State due to the closure of business or people being made unemployed?

That will also include welfare costs due to the jobs lost to the State. What other costs will it include?