Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to understand that the reason we know about these instances of non-competitive processes taking place is because they are completed by the Accounting Officers themselves under this Circular 40/02. That is how we come to see exactly what has happened in this space. We need to recognise that while we should always hope to see competitive processes, EU directives allow for non-competitive processes in circumstances where special equipment has to be procured, and one could understand how that might happen for defence. There might be an extreme emergency and that has come up with regard to emergency fit-out for special accommodation centres, where a change of supplier might oblige a contracting authority to acquire supplies with different technical characteristics. That can come out as well. There might be an opportunity where there could be a bargain purchase available. It is worth noting, despite the cases listed by Deputy Cullinane now and in previous debates, that we have the lowest level of non-competitive procurement in the EU at less than 1% of the €12 billion of procurement undertaken by the State.

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