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

The Deputy has rightly raised the significant issue of the concern of many businesses about whether they will be shut out of the new procedure. It is crucially important that people know that the procedure we are following is the best international procedure through which they can win a greater percentage of the pie. It will inevitably mean that businesses will have to come together and pitch for contracts. I have said to the director of the NPS that in the future, as we move towards framework contracts in which a number of operators are engaged, there should be multiple service users and instead of having only one contract for a large domestic or international plc, we need to have a range of businesses involved, including SMEs, indigenous and international companies and those involved in foreign direct investment. That is the way to go. We need to have that to make sure the SME sector gets the support this significant budget can provide.

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