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

I have no difficulty meeting the individual. I meet hundreds of people engaged in this area and our office is open to that.

Deputy Naughten is correct, but the bottom line is that 70% of SMEs are not even registered on the eTenders website. How the hell they are going to know about this unless they are on the portal that explains the work that is coming up? This is a fundamental question. I am delighted this issue is being raised in the House in order that we can ask businesses to please register on the website and then they will know about every contract ranging in price from €3,000 to €3 million. There is no reason they cannot pitch for them. The portal is important because all of this information is shared on it. If we need to provide more help, I am more than happy to do that.

The Minister set a target of €500 million. We have to reach that target. I am pleased to announce that next year's target is €127 million, and that must be accounted for through savings in the new office. The staff know they must do this. There must be independent verification that those savings have occurred because it is crucial to the deficit reduction project and expenditure profiles that we make sure they are realised.

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