Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates. Most of the points have already been covered. The overriding problem here is the remit of the Office of Government Procurement. Essentially, if it can come out in a year's time and say it saved X amount, then it can claim to have done its job and that will be the headline. The difficulties with that approach have been clearly outlined by the witnesses today. Departmental officials came before the committee last year to discuss these issues, at which time the Secretary General committed to reviewing matters with the Office of Government Procurement. However, there has been only a figleaf acknowledgement of what we were trying to say. Mr. Noonan hit the nail on the head when he asked whether the office is really fit for purpose. The problem is that some of the people in the office will say they were told to do a job, namely, save money, and must do that come hell or high water.

Having had a quick look through the report by the Office of Government Procurement, I did not see the words "jobs" or "employment" mentioned once.