Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Calleary has acknowledged before that the vast majority of Government expenditure on procurement is spent in the State. It is in excess of 90%. Of that, over 50% is spent with small and medium enterprises, SMEs. I chair the SME section within the procurement element of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We meet regularly and tease out matters that representative organisations of the SME sector have. There are a number of matters we are working through, particularly in the communications area. We will launch a more user-friendly communications strategy early in the new year to identify how people would best facilitate their own business with respect to procurement.

We do not disagree with the Deputy's comments on appeals. That is why the tender advisory service is being updated so people can get proper feedback when they do not succeed. It is important to say it is ultimately the awarding contract authority that has the responsibility for managing the contract and not the Office of Government Procurement, which deals with the implementation of frameworks.

The Deputy raised the matter of library books and I appreciate that. I come from a place where local journals are very important but those Limerick journals might not be as important in County Louth. The same would apply in Mayo. It is something on which we are reflecting to see if we can reach an accommodation.

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