Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can understand why the Deputy might view it that way. All I can do is tell him clearly that is not the case. That is absolutely not what is going on here. There is nothing I would like more than for all of this to be resolved as quickly as possible, as I am sure the Deputy can understand. All we are doing is saying there is a large amount of money under dispute and we need to leave the board at it. The board's position is the answer is very close to zero and that is therefore our position as well.

The Deputy raises an important issue with contracts being awarded. It is one I have raised with Government colleagues on numerous occasions. To be clear, I am not relating my following comments to any contractor as that is not fair when nobody is here to answer for themselves. There is a general issue with European procurement law whereby Ireland and every other member state - I am sure there is detail to this I am not au fait with - are not allowed to take past performance into account when awarding contracts. It is an EU law procurement issue and I do not understand it. Let us say I got someone to build a wall in the garden and they built a terrible wall at three times the agreed price. Imagine I was subsequently looking for a shed to be built and that builder came back and offered a price, along with two others, and I was not allowed to remember the first builder had built me a terrible wall for three times the original price. Every EU member state is being asked to behave in that way on vast capital projects. It is an issue this committee could take up on a European level. It is certainly one I would like to see raised at that level. I have no doubt the Ministers, Deputies McGrath and Donohoe, do this, but the Deputy raises a fundamental weakness in public procurement across the EU.