Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

It appears that they are not being adhered to. I refer to contracts being awarded in respect of public relations work by semi-State bodies. While I do not suggest this is the case now, certainly in the past, in the instances I have highlighted and as a recent report has underscored, this has been happening. All the wishful thinking in the world will not change this. In the light of the report by Mr. King into the Dublin Docklands Development Authority's awarding of contracts in this regard, I understand that the bulk of the awards by the authority were above board. However, I understand that in one instance out of 37, awards were made to a particular business that is neither a registered company nor has a business name to which one can point, registered or otherwise, of the order of €75,000 in one instance and €7,250 in another, that simply do not meet the required criteria. In that light and given the history of questionable awarding of contracts in this area and others by both the DDDA and FÁS, does the Taoiseach not believe there now is a requirement to formally bring the awarding of public relations contracts by all semi-State bodies under the direct aegis of the respective line Ministers and Departments?

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