David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Just as we did with the timely presentation of their accounts, when we made life a bit difficult for them, I am recommending that from here on, every time our attention is drawn to non-compliance in procurement, for example in the case of the €5.4 million, we write back to the Department or agency and ask for a breakdown of the sum, how many contracts there were, why they were non-compliant, and a report. That is just to make sure that they know we are watching this. There is no point in us and the Comptroller and Auditor General just noting it meeting after meeting. We have said time and again that there seems to be no sanction other than that they have to watch that they abide by proper competition rules and so on. In any event, non-compliance in its totality year on year is a colossal amount when we take in all the Departments. I recommend that every time it comes up, we write back requesting a detailed report broken down by the number of contracts and the reason each one was non-compliant. The €5.4 million in this case may be one contract or it may be multiple contracts.