Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Public procurement presents one of the biggest opportunities for SMEs in the State. An Action Plan for Jobs states the ambitions of the Government are merely to increase SME awareness and identify further measures to assist public sector procurement. In other words, in the Government's fourth year in office, its ambition is to look into the matter. I sat with a previous Minister responsible for the OPW in his office and asked him why the Government was rolling up all contracts and making it more difficult for SMEs. All we had was a shrug. Do small businesses not deserve more than a shrug with regard to public procurement?

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