Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the biggest things hurting rural Ireland today in places such as County Kerry is pre-qualification tenders in which previous years' turnover are taken into account before a company is allowed to tender for many of the public works that happen around our county. Massive sums of money are required - €10 million or €20 million. Local companies, which actually finish up doing the work for the bigger company that gets the job, cannot meet the exorbitant rates that are required to allow them to tender. Something needs to be done about this.

I should have said at the outset that I was involved in a small way in a plant hire business.

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