Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

The number of non-domestic suppliers winning public procurement contracts in Ireland has been the subject of controversy from time to time. The Deputy referred to a statistic, released by the EU Commission, which suggested that 17% of contracts awarded in 2008 went to suppliers outside the jurisdiction. This statistic is based on incomplete data relating only to above-threshold procurements where contract notices were published and the nationality of the winning tenderer disclosed. When one compares the value as opposed to the number of contracts going to non-Irish companies in 2008, the figure amounts to less than 5% of the overall public spend on procurement.

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