Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I am not really going to make any points on the report itself because rural Deputies representing their communities can do that and I am an urban Deputy. I wish to make a point regarding the LES and job clubs. Together with other Deputies, I have been contacted by many such services, whose providers are concerned about the tendering out the LES in counties Sligo, Leitrim, Laois and Offaly. The staff welcome the expansion of services but are concerned by the type of tender the Minister is has chosen. The type of tender she is working on is the cost-bid model whereby the price is for the job as opposed to having to having budget set by the State, which is the cost-met model. The Minister says her hands are tied by European procurement law but we must challenge that. I have a letter to hand from the European Commission Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, which clarified this particular issue of procurement. One question asked of the Commission was “Firstly, are EU Member States obliged to use public procurement to fund the provision of social services?”. The reply from the Commission was:

In EU Law, public procurement qualifies as one of the possible avenues for public authorities to provide a service to the public administration or the citizens. The Directives do not oblige Member States to contract out any service, including social services. Public authorities are entirely free to choose whether to outsource the provision of services or whether to provide them themselves or by means other than public procurement. However, whenever a public authority decides to spend public money to acquire a service, therefore using a public contract or concession or any other legal arrangement qualifying as such, then it must comply with EU public procurement rules.

That contradicts what the Minister has said in respect of her legal advice. We are not going to be able to deal with it and tease it out here but I ask the Chairman that we have a specific meeting on this and maybe invite someone in from the procurement section of the European Commission to clarify the situation for us. This is not just because it is going to impact on those rural areas which are going to need the type of services the LES and job clubs provide at the moment. In future, it is probably going to affect all communities, including those in my own area of Ballyfermot.

As a result, I would challenge the Minister on that. We, as a committee, should take that situation forward and discuss it further.