Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If what the Minister said was valid then concern and stress would not be caused to community development groups and communities around the country. I wish to focus on two groups in particular, one of which is the group in the north inner city, which is at a particular disadvantage because it does not have a partnership. A total of 16 of the projects have come together in a loose alliance and they are very much afraid of what the process will do to them. The other group of concern is island communities because as far as they are concerned the change will completely destroy what they have achieved. Currently, funding goes directly to the islanders and to the group in the north inner city and funding will now go from the communities which means all those years of working could be totally undermined by the new process. The projects are being tendered to for-profit companies. Up to now that has not been the ethos of community development groups. The buzzword now is social inclusion and a community activation programme but it does not address the needs of the communities involved.

It appears that the process is justified by Directive 2004/18/EC. However, my understanding is the directive has been replaced by Directive 2014/24/EU, which is the current law on public procurement. There are two preambles - 7 and 14 - which seem to suggest that agencies and public authorities in member states are free to organise social services in such a way that it does not entail such contracts. Will the Government at least delay the process and check the preambles to see whether the tendering process is necessary? I seek a delay to check the new directives.

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