Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and his officials for their engagement from Second Stage of the Bill onwards. I also want to thank him for the manner in which he has accepted the Bill. I agree more work needs to be done. I will give him a commitment, on behalf of my party, that we will await the reports of the social clauses and SME working groups. We can work together on this.

We all know more work needs to be done on procurement. The value of social clauses in procurement legislation has been proven in other countries. I think we can do better. Putting this into law, rather than simply having guidance, is a better way of doing things. We all want to ensure that Irish companies, particularly in the SME sector, have a fair shake of the stick and can tender for contracts where appropriate. We also have to be mindful of value for money and quality.

It is to be hoped the Bill will be the beginning of setting a more level playing field. That is not a criticism of anyone in the Department or in the Office of Government Procurement. Rather, we always have to consider how we can do things better and move things forward. I can give the Minister of State a firm commitment on behalf of my party that we want to work with the Government, other parties and Independent Members to introduce better legislation than this Bill. It sets down the parameters for what I am looking for, and I want to thank the groups that fed into it, including Chambers Ireland, ISME, the Small Firms Association and many other individual businesses and firms across the country which have actively engaged with me on this legislation.It would not have been possible to introduce the Bill without the openness shown by the Minister of State and his willingness to take on board new ideas. We had a very good debate on Second Stage when he asked me not to proceed to Committee Stage until certain steps had been taken, and I agreed with his request. I hope this approach shows that in the final days or months of this Seanad we can agree on legislation once certain matters that need to be worked on have been addressed. It is a significant day for businesses, in particular the small and medium enterprise sector, that the Government and Opposition have indicated that this important legislation will be allowed to pass all hurdles in one House of the Oireachtas. I fully acknowledge that the Bill will require amendment in the Dáil and I will seek further views on it. As the Minister of State noted, the working groups on social clauses and small and medium enterprises will report shortly and feed into the process. At this stage, we can agree what will be the next steps in the Dáil, either before or after the next general election. In that regard, I thank the Minister of State most sincerely.

I also thank my colleague, Senator Diarmuid Wilson, the co-sponsor of the Bill, and my colleagues opposite for engaging in the debate. I am pleased the Bill has overcome this hurdle and I look forward to working with the Minister of State and his officials to improve it further when it reaches the Dáil.