Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, indeed. The purpose of the question is to explore the issue. I appreciate the necessity on the one hand for the kinds of cost savings the Minister of State envisages through procurement. That is reasonable and fair. We cannot allow a situation to continue, whereby, as the Minister of State put it, people were “screwing the State”.

An additional concern was raised by Deputy Pringle in his earlier question about a situation whereby the State is contracting for services and spending substantial amounts of money, and it is in our interests that Irish firms can compete and win those tenders. With that in mind, is the Minister of State considering any modifications or innovations to how procurement processes operate that would build on the potential for Irish firms? I presume that is something that is under constant review. I am interested in hearing what specifically the Minister of State is thinking.

It is a pity that it was not possible to disaggregate or give specific data for the construction sector, not least because we know that much of the catastrophe in terms of job losses, in particular for men, were in the sector. Any monitoring or additional data that would help to give a boost on a sustainable and competitive basis to the sector would be welcome.

In a later question which I do not expect the Minister of State will reach, I asked about a social clause for public contracts - in other words, that provision would be made within the procurement process to address youth unemployment and long-term unemployment. As the Minister of State is aware, the EU procurement regime and legislation is tight and prescriptive but there is scope within it for contracts to specify terms and conditions relating to such social issues. It is time we took such steps. The Minister of State might be aware that my ministerial colleague in the North, Conor Murphy, pursued that and it proved successful.

See this speech in context