Mr. John McNamee:

Let me cite in part a memo which was recently created and ratified by the committee of the Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom and Ireland and submitted to the UK Government's review:

[T]here needs to be genuine competitive tendering and the avoidance of monopolies. We therefore do not support a single central buying authority acting on behalf of all libraries. A range of options and alternative sources of supply should be available to local authorities in order to create healthy competition for the contracts to supply.

This will include the creation and maintenance of jobs on a local basis throughout.
Our industry is built on knowledge. Like libraries, most bookshops are curators of our culture and locality. I trade in Portlaoise, in the Chairman's constituency, and we produce local books which would not be produced by large companies such as O'Brien Press. They are very important. It is also very important to have a stage from which to present them to local communities. Bookshops are as important in their local communities as libraries. We work hand in hand with librarians to ensure the community has access to this material and are creating jobs all of the time.
I am astounded that our colleagues in the copier and print supply sector had to spend €206,000 to prove that Irish jobs were important and should be maintained. It is an insult to the citizens of the State that we must take this legal route. It is very hurtful. We must bear in mind that in the tendering process I, as a company director, have an obligation to trade responsibly, not recklessly. If we go to the bottom dollar to win these contracts, it will make our trading capability unsustainable. Local authorities depend on businesses such as mine to fund them. We could be cutting off our noses to spite our faces. I feel passionately about the matter also.