Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My question relates to anti-competitive practices, not just bid-rigging. A recent report showed that Dublin City Council is paying about €100,000 more for construction than it would in the private sector. Practices can be seen in respect of public procurement, particularly for large-scale projects; it is not just bid-rigging. When we addressed this issue at another meeting, we talked about the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, and the powers it has. Would there be value in giving powers to the witnesses' agencies similar to those possessed by CAB or will the focus be more on regulation and guidelines? I refer not just to bid-rigging but to other anti-competitive practices that might be going on. The witnesses might comment on the construction sector in particular because that issue has been raised with me and with people who believe there are anti-competitive practices. That is despite the fact that, as I have said previously, others believe that this sort of activity is something of a victimless crime, which we know it is not. Might additional powers such as those that CAB has be required? The taxpayer is being ripped off to the tune of quite a substantial amount of money and we need to change the attitude to this because it is not a victimless crime. We need to go after white-collar crime with the same vigour that CAB goes after blue-collar criminal activity.