Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

There is probably not a day that goes by where we see a report such as this where procurement does not crop up. Value for money is the key issue. I agree with the point made that there is a perception, at least, and it is quite destructive, that there may be preferred people who are fortunate in doing more business with a particular entity. The procurement rules probably favour the larger countries too.

Is collective purchasing happening in sectors such as the ETBs? They would mainly purchase the same kinds of thing, although it would have to be delivered at a local level. Is there any indication that that happens in those types of sectors? The HSE is one body but there are 16 ETBs. If, for example, they were all buying biros, is there a way that they could collaborate and there would be one supplier to get better value for money?