Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Chairman. I thank the Vice Chairman, whose parliamentary questions did us a service in terms of raising this issue. The letter from the deputy commissioner is unequivocal on this matter. I and indeed others made a proposal some weeks ago, which is in our report, that all public contracts include this. It is a point made regularly by Deputy Connolly. The belief that the public must be protected from the truth is wrong. It subverts democracy. If I am tendering for a State contract, I am sure that I would be happy to win a contract and get paid and that I would not be worried about the argument about something being commercially sensitive, which is often used in here. The more that prices and fees are out in the public domain, the more pressure and momentum can be built to achieve value for money for us and perhaps bring prices down. I described the Department's explanation as to why these fees would not be released as political opportunism at best. The unequivocal response from the deputy commissioner bears that out absolutely. I thank the deputy commissioner for his response and Deputy Kelly for bringing it to our attention. I very much hope that the Department moves swiftly to implement the committee's recommendation that all future public tenders inform tenderers that this information will go into the public domain and that the public is entitled to no less.