Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I say "Good morning" to Mr. McKeon and the other witnesses. In the context of the Department processing the best part of 700,000 or 800,000 PUP applications in five weeks and Mr. McKeon's attending this meeting while being somewhat unwell, some people might say I should go a little easy on him. We appreciate him being here. I know he was feeling unwell. There are three areas I wish to cover. They can be divided into questions relating to what is a very unusual period and the PUP, and those that might be asked in a normal period.

I will focus first on non-compliant procurement. I refer to the list of 92 contracts provided to the committee. Almost all of those fall into what we might call the provision of local employment service contracts. Many public representatives and members of the public will be quite surprised to learn that household names in their local constituency that provide valuable local employment services are considered by the Comptroller and Auditor General to have non-compliant procurement. I suspect that is not a reflection on any of the services those organisations provide but, rather, the procurement process. I ask Mr. McKeon to address why the Comptroller and Auditor General considers those contracts to be non-compliant.