Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Obviously, scale may be an issue for some local suppliers. There is a balance to be struck between the size of the bundles to be put out to tender.

There are obviously certain services that can really only be provided locally. For instance, where an education and training board has schools spread across two counties, the bundling of the cleaning service can be achieved in such a way that a service in west Galway, as opposed to one in east Galway, can make competition available to credible suppliers in the region or district. It is quite a complex thing to achieve.