Results 1,781-1,800 of 6,631 for speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Based on what we see internationally and here, is it likely to be as a result of honest companies operating here? Is it due to a lack of powers or resources for the CCPC or the fact it is not a priority for the Government? I am trying to get a picture of the landscape.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Yes, and Mr. McHugh's opening statement was very informative in terms of what we need to discuss here. He mentioned the case unfolding in Austria that could involve €61 billion in public money, where construction companies could face hundreds of millions of euro in fines as a result. We also saw the case in Spain last year. Are any of the companies involved in the Austrian...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I understand that. As things are now, even as a preliminary consideration, it is public knowledge which companies have been involved in bid rigging and were fined and prosecuted in other countries. Does this automatically raise an alert in the CCPC or in the Government to give extra scrutiny to those companies that have already been prosecuted in other countries? How does the commission...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: We see over and over again where this happens. I could name out lists of companies to Mr. McHugh that have been involved in securing contracts here despite their having been banned in other member states. Is there no collaboration across member states that will lead to standards being imposed in this context? What is the collaboration? Is there any formal collaboration?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is Mr. McHugh saying the CCPC cannot do a review without the data? Is there some level of review that can be done even with the gaps that exist in the data?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is this anywhere in Europe or anywhere in the world?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Ms Stewart can, therefore, categorically say that where there is a final judgment, and this has been declared or findable, these companies would not be considered for a public contract here.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Has the OGP ever excluded a company from tendering for a public contract because either the company itself or its parent company has been prosecuted?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: What is the overall body in charge here in this regard? I ask Ms Stewart to tell us about the structures that exist. Who would have the information about whether a public contract was awarded to a company that had been prosecuted in another state or had part of that company prosecuted in another state?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Reviews are not being carried out at the moment because we do not have the data. It seems to be a confusing situation and I can see why it would be attractive to someone who is involved in bid-rigging. They would see so many loopholes that the chances of them being found out are low. As Mr. McHugh alluded to earlier, this is done so covertly that we seem to be at high risk of it happening...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: We have not been doing that. We need to review not only the contracts that were won, but also the bids of contractors that were put in and then withdrawn. Evidence was found in a Spanish court that the tactic of bidding and then withdrawing to sabotage the procurement process was rife. Does the CCPC carry out reviews over a longer period to see whether that is happening here with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Would the CCPC need the level of data Mr. McHugh has referred to in order to be able to do that? I could sit down and look at different contractors that have bid for different things and been unsuccessful and find a pattern, if I had the time. The CCPC could do that without the data. It could look at specific companies because these are large operators. There is not a huge number of them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Has the children's hospital process been reviewed by the CCPC through that lens?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: When there are different revelations about a project of that size - it is one of the biggest, if not the biggest the country will ever deliver - would the CCPC not consider it vital that it be done?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: When will the CCPC be at a point where it has the data necessary to be able to do what was done in Austria, Spain and other countries? I have not even gone into Australia yet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Okay. I thank Mr. McHugh. I will finish with this. It is absolutely scandalous that we do not have legislation in place and have been operating in a system that is so exposed to risk, exposes public money and everything involved to risk. We need to have further discussions about this and the legislation needs to be expedited as quickly as possible. It is clear from today and from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I very much welcome this session. As the Chair will know, I asked for it in the first instance, and I am very interested in the subject in the context of the landscape here. I thank both organisations for their statements. They referred to some of the bid-rigging cases the CCPC has been involved in, but what prosecutions have there been to date?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The answer, therefore, is that no one has been prosecuted in this State for a public procurement contract.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Preventing Bid Rigging in the Public Procurement Process: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Does that make us more at risk here? Five of the six companies implicated in the bid-rigging situation in Spain have won procurement contracts in Ireland. How are they attracted to operate in Ireland, in essence? Are there loopholes we have that do not exist in other member states? Do international events of this nature trigger reviews? Would the CCPC look back over the awarding of...