Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy McDonald made a number of valuable points. On the latter issue of social contracts, I can confirm to the House that I will bring proposals to Government shortly effectively to demand that a percentage of people who will work on public construction contracts will be ones who have suffered unemployment as a result of the downturn in the construction industry. We have done much work in that regard in recent months. Much of it has been helped by what has happened in other EU countries, in particular where there has been a significant increase in unemployment and states have examined how, through the expenditure of public money or through PPPs, they could ensure that social contracts are part and parcel of the system. It is not part of tendering, as such; it is more to do with the State requiring that a certain percentage of people on construction contracts would come from the live register. I can confirm to the Deputy that we are doing that and we will make an announcement on the issue in due course. It was a perceptive question on the Deputy’s part.

The biggest thing that will help us to change is data. To put it bluntly, we do not know who is buying what, and there is little accountability on spending in this country. The new e-tenders website that we have put in place gives us the technological opportunity to capture the data and discover what bodies are spending what amounts. It is important to analyse the data to ensure there is proper value.

The good news is that 95% of the value of what we spend, even if some contracts are won outside the State, remains in the country. We want to see Irish businesses not just win contracts in this country, but in other countries. I understand that across the EU the market is valued at €2.5 trillion and we want to see our companies getting a larger percentage of that. It is not just about what contracts Irish companies can win at home, but what they can win abroad.

We are actively encouraging SMEs to pitch together for business. We are improving data collection through e-tenders. By the end of the first quarter of this year we will bring a new policy on procurement to the Cabinet with the imprimatur of the new chief procurement officer. It is about getting a much more exacting standard at a technological and management level as to who is spending what to make sure that what we are spending, which is €9 billion on goods and services – approximately €4 billion on construction – is spent by and large at home.

The situation is governed by EU tendering law. Currently, there is what I might call a legal cottage industry challenging every single decision the Government takes. We must professionalise the standard of procurement and get the standard the NPS has applying across the country. Otherwise, such is the level of litigation in the area, people will be taken to court.

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