Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I call for a debate on public procurement and professional fees. In the context of the forthcoming debate on the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011, I am interested in the issue of the State's role in setting professional fees and the distribution of professional work. We must consider this issue in respect of other professionals as well as lawyers. I am conscious that the Bill envisages the creation of multidisciplinary partnerships. There is some concern that this might lead to the concentration of expertise in the hands of a few small firms, thereby indirectly creating monopolies. This is a cause for concern. For example, in the case of credit unions which are going into receivership - we had a high profile case in recent weeks - only a very few of the large accountancy firms seem to be getting that work from the State. This is despite the fact that the expertise to deal with these matters may be elsewhere. Moreover, there may be better value for money for the State in procuring accountancy services from smaller firms rather than always opting, by default, for one of the so-called big four. We have also seen the State confining its business to a couple of large solicitors' firms. We must have an open debate on this issue, which is about consumer protection.

I saw a newspaper report yesterday that a new Killarney-based GP practice is offering much lower consultation fees than those charged by its competitors. This is a sign of the lowering of professional fees we would hope to see across the different professions.