Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will stay with the issue of value for money as part of public procurement. I have just left a meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. There has been much debate around the impact of public procurement on the affordability of housing. I know Dublin City Council's quantity surveyors have essentially said that the public procurement process adds a significant amount of time to the overall procurement process but the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland has indicated that in the area of professional fees, often through public procurement, one could pay double what the private sector might pay. I know the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland has said that we have allowed a situation to arise where we rule out risk but we are paying a very heavy price for that. Could the witnesses comment on the area of value for money in public procurement? While it is important to ensure nepotism and corruption do not happen, is it delivering value for money for public procurement?