Mr. Aidan Sweeney:

There is one issue on which I wish to pick up. Reference was made to the medical devices sector, about which my colleagues in the Irish Medical Devices Association have particular concerns in the context of public procurement. One of the things they were constructively seeking was better engagement by buyers with the smaller indigenous medical device companies here. The health innovation hub established under An Action Plan for Jobs for this year has enabled them to adopt a more pragmatic approach to rolling out innovative solutions developed here. This can then be used as an export market. The scenario relating to software companies - particularly smaller ones - is similar. I recall speaking a couple of years ago to someone involved in IT in the Department of Finance about a two-company operation which had a central government contract. The problem is that we are not actually championing our successes. We need to be able to identify the small companies that are winning and then use them as case studies.

That will help initiatives like IntertradeIreland's Go-2-Tender programme and other training programmes that are needed, particularly around consortia, to help companies in terms of peer-to-peer learning. This will help us to see how they can do this, but will also help with the feedback mechanism to make sure that where some companies get favourable treatment in terms and conditions, we know why other suppliers are not getting that.