Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To return the favour to Deputy Broughan, my Eircode is D6W WN99.

On the procurement issue, Deputies will understand that I was not the Minister during the procurement process. I am perfectly happy to report to the House on precisely what occurred, however. I outlined the position regarding the complaint submitted to the European Commission, which it subsequently investigated. On foot of the complaint, the Commission contacted the Department on certain aspects of the procurement process and the issues were addressed in correspondence with the Commission. The complaint was not upheld and the Commission has confirmed that the file on the complaint was closed in 2014.

It is important to stress that this was a pilot complaint and not a formal infringement under the EU treaties. The Commission did not give any indication that the tendering process was invalid. The European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services advised in 2014 that the Commission department "could not establish any violation of EU public procurement law that would justify the opening of an infringement procedure."

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