Mr. Robert Watt:

The key point, and I reiterate this, is that the HSE needs to engage with the OGP. I will give the numbers in terms of non-compliance under Circular 40/2002. This relates to non-competitive procurement. I have figures from the OGP. For 2016, excluding the HSE, the total amount of non-compliance was €94 million. Several of these relate to defence. I do not have the full details but one case involved the purchase of a ship and the extension of a contract. Another related to an armoured cars upgrade and was probably because there was only one supplier in a position to do the upgrade. It amounted to €55 million. Another involved the replacement of an aircraft, which I presume was replaced by the same kind of aircraft. There was then an issue in relation to RTÉ providing a service to do with the commemorations in 2016. The most significant cases are clear.

I accept that it is an issue in the HSE. I would love to see more evidence. Maybe the Comptroller and Auditor General could update the work his office has done previously. I am not discounting any concerns about any individual case for one moment, but I do not think that there is a general non-compliance problem, with the caveat I just gave. That is my sense. The last review that the Comptroller and Auditor General did was not material, in my view. When one examines the reasons for non-competitive procurement and strips out the genuine reasons, there was a very small number of cases where there was a problem. I do not disagree with what the Deputy said in relation to the HSE.