Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is welcome that we are having a discussion on procurement and social clauses. I am very much in favour the concept of having social clauses. However, I have a difficulty with the legislation which will be very restrictive. It is too much across the board and will not be very prescriptive as to what can and cannot be done. From that perspective, I am concerned about how the SME sector will be able to implement it. The Minister of State has indicated that the Government will accept the legislation, but I agree with Deputy Mary Lou McDonald that it could be put in cold storage. I, therefore, ask the Minister of State to indicate when the Government will introduce its own legislation on social clauses.

It is ironic that the programme for Government 2011 to 2015 in the North of Ireland proposed to include social clauses in all public procurement contracts. However, what has been proposed is very limited. Deputy Robert Troy who has left the Chamber highlighted that legislation had been introduced in England and Scotland, yet I can find no such legislation which has been introduced in the North of Ireland. It is hypocritical for Sinn Féin to bring forward something here and not to have done so where it is in power in the North of Ireland.

I reiterate my point that Deputy Mary Lou McDonald's legislation is an across-the-board social clause inclusion. As I said, there are parts I would have no problem in supporting because I believe in the inclusion of local SMEs, local employment and local people who are unemployed being catered for under the procurement process. A report was produced in the North of Ireland and Deputy Mary Lou McDonald's colleague, Ms Jennifer McCann, MLA, stated: "The social value of public spending is important and I welcome the fact that some of the recommendations in this report call for the targeted use of social clauses." The legislation is broad based. I agree with the Minister of State that we should use social clauses in a targeted manner.

We mentioned EU legislation with which we have to deal. I find it strange that in a recent debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly it was stated, "Northern Ireland has lobbied strongly for the relaxation of European regulations that have acted as barriers to SME participation in public contracts." From an SME perspective, this legislation will definitely be a barrier for small firms looking to tender for projects up to €2 million, which is not an exceptionally large contract. I find it strange that they lobbied against it and yet bring forward restrictive legislation in the Republic.

I would welcome Deputy Mary Lou McDonald's participation on Tuesday when the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will have a full session on the issue of procurement. A number of small firms will be represented at the meeting, as will a professor from DCU to highlight - this is not the first time I have spoken on the issue - Government policy which excludes many small firms from Government procurement processes. The policy that seeks value for money in a procurement contract is all about money rather than the social side. A small company in a small town, which employs local people and wants to be able to tender for public procurement contracts cannot do so because the restrictions imposed by eTenders make it difficult for small companies to tender for some of the pot of almost €9 billion. We have allowed larger companies to dominate the tender process. This is part and parcel of what I would call social inclusion; it is not necessarily all about employment. It is important that small companies in small areas be allowed to tender to supply items such as stationery in a local school and toiletries in local public offices. However, we are restricting this completely. To my mind, that is very strongly part of the social side of things because small companies will employ people who are living locally. They may have a chance to expand and more than likely will take a local person off the unemployment register, which is very positive. If we are to proceed with the legislation - the Minister of State might indicate when that might be - we need to have a lead-in period in order that small companies can adapt to what might be prescribed in the legislation. We need to give them an opportunity to refocus on what they have to do with regard to social clauses.

It is welcome that the Minister established a social clauses project group. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald has said it has only met twice. I would welcome it if we could receive a report from that group, perhaps similar to the jone completed in the North of Ireland which called for targeted use of social clauses.

The legislation refers to apprenticeships. We need to look at the overall apprenticeship set-up, as it stands. Many small businesses claim they cannot take on apprentices because of the block release process they have to go through. When I was at UCD, many of my pals were in the college on Kevin Street at the time. They used to spend one day a week there and four days working in the company. Therefore, the knowledge they picked up on Kevin Street could be implemented in practical ways on the other four days. Apprentices go away for nine months to learn in a college and have no relationship with the SME during that time. We should seriously look at what was done in the past. There will be a shortage of apprenticeships.

I have spoken to people in the construction side in particular. The construction sector is starting to pick up and I foresee problems when we reach the building target of approximately 25,000 houses per annum. It does not allow small companies to take on apprentices because of the long-term block release. Maybe the Minister could examine this.

Again, I raise the double speak of Sinn Féin trying to implement legislation here that they have not implemented in the North of Ireland. While I am very much in favour of the concept of social clauses, we must consider the wider view. We must consider how we set up our tendering documentation to allow small companies to participate in it at a local level because if local businesses expand, they are likely to take people off the local register. I would like the Minister to consider it, and I invite him to take an interest in the debates of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on Tuesdays.

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