Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Three new European directives which were agreed during the last Irish EU Presidency need to be transposed into Irish law. Some of these will meet the very issues about which the Deputy is talking. We expect the transposition of these will be completed by April. The new directives are on the award of concession contracts, on public procurement, repealing EU Directive 2004/18/EC, and on procurement of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sector.

The issue of procurement is one at which we are taking a careful look. We want to ensure we construct procurement processes to the best advantage of Irish potential tenderers while, obviously, being cognisant of the regulations and the law I just mentioned.

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