Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

To deal with the Deputy's first point, it is not getting worse, but better, and I will explain why. This is based on a declaration by the Department of non-competitive procurement and non-compliant procurement, which are not necessarily the same. In some circumstances where there are specialist requirements for which there is only one supplier or an issue of urgency, there can be a requirement to go to market without competition. Insofar as our return on this is concerned, if a contract is signed, it remains on the list until such time as the contract is closed off. There is a cumulative effect such that contracts that might have been declared in 2016 will run for two or three years. They remain on the list in the following year. We have done an awful lot of work in the Department on resolving these procurement issues and we are making significant progress. I can go through some of the figures if the Deputy wishes.