Dr. Elaine Byrne:

I think the Senator is making reference to an article that Colm McCarthy wrote that I quoted from. He wrote it in 2006, I think, about a tradition in Ireland. Dr. Raj Chari in Trinity College Dublin and Professor Gary Murphy have also looked at this.

In Ireland, tendering and procurement processes tend not to be as open and transparent as they should be. Journalists often neglect to read the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports, which report serious questions of unorthodox behaviour in the way certain tenders and procurement contracts are awarded. The annual procurement budget in Ireland is up to €17 billion. Some members would have more information on it than I. There is not as much scrutiny of how procurement awards are made as there should be.