Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take this matter. In anticipation of his answer, I know what he is going to say about cost savings in the public sector and note that I appreciate the need for that. Surely, however, it should not be at the expense of the small local operator. The procurement and tendering process has squeezed the lifeblood out of small operators in local areas. The contracts they had for Government and State agency buildings were their lifeblood. I refer also to caterers and suppliers to the HSE of foods, etc., stationery and office supplies to local authorities, and cleaning contractors to Garda stations and Government buildings. All of those people are suffering and the life is being squeezed out of them by the big operators with whom they cannot hope to compete. The big operators can buy all their supplies in bulk, reduce their costs and tender lower.

In line with the regional dimension to the Action Plan for Jobs, our aim is to keep jobs and create them in regional areas. This is an area where we are killing jobs in the regions. They have no hope. I have one man who employed 25 people. He lost a contract to clean a Government building and had to let ten of his 25 staff go. The Minister of State will probably say the new contractors will take people on, but they are taking them on at a different cost. They are paying them lower wages. I know for a fact that some people cleaning Government buildings - we are standing over this - are not paid bank holiday rates. Local contractors were available at short notice to the organisations and buildings involved and could come in if there was a flood or something else happened. They were there on the spot to deal with these things.

While we are claiming to make savings in the public sector by doing this, it must be asked if this is true in the longer term given that people who are let go from their jobs must claim social welfare payments. The revenue was circulating locally whereas the contractors doing jobs in the Kerry area, for example, who got the contracts through the tendering process are in Dublin. Once again, the revenue will be circulating in Dublin inside the Red Cow roundabout.

I ask that we look at this and instead tender by region. We should keep the tendering process within the regions thereby maintaining regional jobs. I understand that we must make savings. I am not naive. However, we should not squeeze the life out of the small operators in our local areas. I await the Minister of State's reply.