Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I share Deputy Stanley's concern about the fact that we cannot exclude small businesses from contracts and opportunities at local level. There is a balance to be struck between savings on particular contracts without depriving people of the opportunity to bid in the procurement process. We did that for the water metering programme, where there was a much higher threshold for subcontractors to come in and provide services for the main regional contractor. A figure of €1 million was initially proposed by the group drawing up the proposal and I reduced it to €400,000. I am conscious of the point about including people as much as possible and I will convey this to the national procurement office.

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