Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. It would be appropriate to bring in some departmental officials and perhaps someone from the European Commission. Reference was made to the fact that the European debate has moved away from tendering for social inclusion projects. It might be interesting to get the opinion of someone in the Commission who could flesh out the picture and state the intention behind the 2014 directive on public procurement which will be transposed in 2016. The Department could then elaborate on how it intends to interpret the directive and how it could deliver the programmes to which the witnesses referred more efficiently.