Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The Deputy may be interested to learn that since June of this year, when I became aware in discussions with senior officials of the scale of the demographic challenge we confront, the Department has completely changed the method of procurement and management. We brought in additional assistance from other State agencies which had surplus professional capacity, for example, the now defunct National Building Agency, with which the Deputy may be familiar. We are discussing with the vocational education committees the possibility that they will act as agents on the ground to deliver work. There are excellent examples of this type of delivery in County Monaghan and I am sure Deputy Smith is familiar with them. We must streamline and speed up the traditional form of procurement between the client, namely, the Department, the patron and the construction industry. The traditional method is not sufficiently fast to deliver on the time lines with which we are confronted. This is the reason I introduced the changes.

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