Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate the challenge and I note the consultative phase and also the Meet the Buyer event which will be held shortly. I hope to attend that event.

The Minister of State referred in his response to the practice of breaking contracts into lots and making them accessible. He referred to encouraging SMEs and micro-businesses to form consortia to give them the capacity to bid. While on paper this may appear to be a very straightforward proposition, in practice it is failing very many smaller businesses. The Minister of State may be aware that in the stationery sector those companies that bid for stationery business with the State have had an appalling experience in this bidding process and the requirement to create consortia. I am not sure that this particular issue has been terribly well thought out nor am I convinced that the system has had a listening ear to the real experience of businesses. Training has been provided, not least through InterTrade Ireland, which is welcome but we need to get that piece of it right. I encourage the Minister of State to have a particular eye for that issue in the course of his consultation.

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