Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the LESs and staff in Mayo for their hard work, dedication, experience and knowledge of communities, which is invaluable. The Minister of State is making a mistake. He is making the same mistake that was made when the home help services were destroyed through a similar type of model to that now being proposed. Hours were cut. The same happened to community development projects. There are long-term consequences. The Government swiped them away and we can now see the consequences in many inner city and rural areas.

The Government is hiding behind legal advice. I do not believe that the Department of Social Protection is under an obligation to offer services out to tender. Services have been performed since before the European directive ever came into practice. That is a fact. Contracts of indefinite period entered into prior to the enactment of the procurement directive can fall outside of it. The Minister of State is making a choice. I would have more respect if the Minister of State, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil stood up and said this is our decision, we are making it and this is why we are doing it. They should stop hiding behind legal argument because it has been established in case law that there is precedence in terms of contracts that fall outside of the directive. The Minister of State is doing this knowing how it will destroy communities. He needs to own this decision.

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