Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 November 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management

9:30 am

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will move on from that but it is concerning. Further and deeper analysis is required in the context of secondments and what has come to light in Australia.

I will go back to an issue raised earlier by my colleague, Deputy Munster, namely, that of cartels, the six Spanish companies and the risks they pose. Mr. Moloney will be aware of recent commentary from Brian McHugh, chairperson of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC. He spoke on cartels and cartel behaviour, bid-rigging and such competition breaches. He stated the obvious, in that cartel behaviour is a crime. He talked about potential loss through cartel behaviour being substantial. He stated that a cartel based on the ones being found tend to increase prices by 20% to 30%. As public procurement in this State accounts for €20 billion to €30 billion a year, that is a potential increase of approximately €6 billion per year, according to the figures given by the chair of the CCPC. Are those figures accurate? Does Mr. Moloney concur with what Mr. McHugh had to say?