Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the Minister of State to the House. We soldiered together for a few years on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council so I know of him. We have not been in the Chamber at the same time during his ministerial term, so I wish him well and congratulate him on his appointment. The Bill is an important part of his work and it is an area in which he has experience, so it is appropriate that he has responsibility for it.

I thank Senators Higgins, Ruane, Black and Flynn for introducing the Bill. It is important and timely, not least in the context of the NDP. Senator Higgins raised that with the Minister of State the other day when we were talking about the national development plan. I note her many references to the Dutch model in regard to the Bill, and that is an important yardstick by which to judge it. There is so much best practice in respect of these issues, as the Minister of State will be aware.

I do not accept or support the Government's decision to defer this matter for 12 months. Senator Kyne will be familiar with the programme for Government, which he mentioned. What it says about procurement should not come as news to the Minister of State. It states:

We are committed to evaluating and managing the environmental, economic, and social impacts of procurement strategies within the State. During the lifetime of this Government [quite frankly, we do not know how long that will be, although I take it that it is envisaged to be five years], we will develop and implement a sustainable procurement policy. [I would expect nothing less, particularly from the Green Party in government].

The policy will; - Ensure strong value-for-money for the taxpayer.

- Seek to minimise the environmental impact and optimise the community benefit of products and services procured.

- Support innovation in supply markets to increase the availability and effectiveness of sustainable solutions.

- Encourage suppliers to adopt practices that minimise their environmental impact and deliver community benefit.

- Work in partnership with suppliers to achieve common goals and continually improve performance over time. We will task the Office of Government Procurement to update all procurement frameworks, in line with green procurement practice over the next three years.

That is all very laudable, and I do not think anybody has an issue with it, but when one looks at the reality of the situation, we spend billions in this country on contracts for goods, services and construction. All of us in public life have a responsibility to hold people to account in regard to procurement contracts. We talked about transparency and openness in how we do our business. We know that in the past the Government awarded contracts to the lowest bidder, which does not always mean it is the best job or that it is best practice. Senator Higgins used the example of the national children's hospital and the absolute scandal of the overrun and issues relating to procurement. One would think no one was in government for the past five or ten years. Who was supporting the Administration? Who allowed all this to happen, and on whose watch did it happen? Many of the same people are sitting at the Cabinet table. They are certainly in government and in the parties that were in government. Then they come in here and tell us that the Bill will be debated in a year's time. Have we learned anything from what has happened, in particular with the national children's hospital? It is an absolute disgrace. I do not agree that we should support the Leader's proposal on behalf of the Government, because I do not think it is right. If a Minister said six months, we could understand that and say it was a reasonable approach, but not 12 months. What does that indicate about intent? If one has a problem, one could come back to the House in six months and explain it. That is fair enough, but not to suggest that we are going to kick this down the road for 12 months. The Government may not be here in 12 months. That is the reality of politics and a tripartite administration. We all have to live with that. We read about it every day in the newspapers.

In my remaining time I wish to speak to sections 5 to 7, inclusive. Section 5 provides for the contracting authority to take account of human rights and equality issues under existing EU and national legislation. I do not see a problem with that. I do not see how it would take 12 months to come up with some solutions around that measure. Section 6 states that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform shall issue guidelines concerning "qualitative, environmental, social, human rights and equality considerations" that arise from contracts governed by public authority contracts regulations and how these might be included in the preparation and procurement of such contracts. I do not have a difficulty with that. Likewise, I do not understand why it would take six months to come up with something around that.

Section 7 refers to a requirement for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to prepare an annual report and lay it before the Houses of the Oireachtas. That is all about transparency and accountability. The proposals in the Bill are excellent. I again thank Senator Higgins and her colleagues for the work they have done on it. I read to the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, the objectives on procurement in the programme for Government. I do not see what the problem is here, because everything that is in the Bill falls into the general tokenism or suggestion of what the Government may do in the programme for Government. I do not doubt that the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, is not on board. I support the Bill and, more importantly, I would like him to indicate whether we could see greater and quicker progress within six months not 12 months.