Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 April 2014

Public Accounts Committee

2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management

1:40 pm

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

What I am trying to establish is whether Mr. Quinn is aware of the difference for micro businesses. I am not for a second setting aside the value of SMEs coming together to bid. That is entirely sensible and I wish to acknowledge the work done by InterTradeIreland, Enterprise Ireland and other agencies. That is not what I am getting at. Micro businesses wish to bid for business and they have been at this for a very long time with high rates of customer satisfaction, proper standards and so on. What I want to know is whether the system is aware of the essential difference between an SME of a larger scale and a very small business. I have a sense that they are all lumped in together.