Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I find in my day-to-day work as a constituency Deputy that it is often the case there is a misunderstanding by SMEs and micro-enterprises about the way in which they might approach public tendering processes. This is why it is so important that our State agencies work with business representative organisations to break down any of those barriers and misconceptions. It is misleading of the Deputy to suggest there is some kind of widespread difficulty with SMEs accessing the public procurement system. It is not the case and the evidence going back to 2013 that we have analysed shows strongly that the figures are high. In terms of the analysis carried out, some 66% of public procurement is directly with SMEs. I would like to see it grow and to see SMEs in this country continue to build their capacity to engage with the Office of Government Procurement and avail of other opportunities in terms of major public projects. It is happening and I believe we would all like it to grow.

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