Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

I will provide the full section, which states:

The Legal Aid Board ensures that there is an appropriate focus on good practice in purchasing and that procedures are in place to ensure compliance with all relevant guidelines.

The Legal Aid Board complied with the guidelines with the exception of 9 supply arrangements to the total value of €758,304. These are broken down as follows:

- 1 proprietary purchase accounted for a total of €33,366

- 1 existing supply contract was extended/rolled over with a value of €53,864.

- 1 situation arose where there was a single suitable supplier available and the value of this contract was €61,331.

- 2 local arrangements/tenders were entered in to with a value of €85,529

- 4 other procurements with a value of €524,214 have mainly arisen while the finalisation of centralised tenders in the Office of Government Procurement is awaited.

Apart from one sole supplier case, the Legal Aid Board has already put contracted arrangements in place for two cases and is taking steps to put tenders in place in 2018 for the remaining six cases.