Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill. I also commend those, both in the Seanad and Deputy Frank O'Rourke and the many who have tried to get the Bill to where it is today.

In the latter days of my career as a principal teacher, it got to a stage where one could hardly buy a role of toilet paper without looking to procurement. That was the reality. We have for some time needed legislation to encourage small and medium-sized business to compete for public procurement tenders. We need full transparency and compliance with the legislation on the procurement tendering process.

It was only in 2015 that a local businessman in my own area of Dundalk, Mr. Paddy McCusker of Cusken Limited, celebrated a significant victory in the Supreme Court against the Government. He was one of ten small businesses which took the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland to the High Court over the validity of the public service procurement process which resulted in agreement with seven specified firms to manage print services, thereby excluding others from the tendering process. This meant that small business were precluded from even tendering for the contracts and the local public servants, including school principals, were unable to choose for themselves the best firms to service their needs. Mr. McCusker won his case in the High Court but the Government appealed it to the Supreme Court. Happily, the Supreme Court threw out the Government's appeal and awarded victory to my constituent in the long-running saga. The victory was of considerable benefit and helped secure hundreds of jobs in small firms around the country and saved businesses from going to the wall. I take some credit in encouraging them to do that.

There is a need for more training in the tendering process, delivered through the local enterprise boards which are already doing it, but it is important that some of this training be delivered on-site in these firms which are trying to secure the tenders. Smaller firms need to collaborate in the tendering process and apply a bigger unit. For example, I had a recent case where procurement was needed for machinery and a tractor firm wanted to compete but could not because it had not got somebody in the truck business and somebody in the car business. Such collaboration is greatly needed.

There should be more feedback, not only to the successful bidders but, more importantly, to the unsuccessful bidders, with guidelines on how to improve their applications on the next occasion. There should be full transparency and the same guidelines applied to bidders from outside the jurisdiction as inside, particularly in light of Brexit where many contractors from Northern Ireland are carrying out works for local authorities and other Government bodies south of the Border. We need to have a fair playing field where all companies tendering for contracts could be subject to the same rules and regulations. I refer to insurance costs, the issue of wages and all the matters associated with it.

The introduction of this Bill makes sense. I look forward to its implementation and further improvement for the small firms which would greatly benefit from it.

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