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

This comes up from time to time. We want to get best value for money, but sometimes this can be quite a blunt instrument. I use this example. The library service was required to tender, obviously, for the purchase of books. The tender was won by a UK company and many people employed in Ireland, where there would have been a supplier previously, ended up out of work. We are a small country and this is an issue we need to consider. The amount of leakage from the bigger countries is considerably less than it is from countries like Ireland. It is very significant.