Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see my comrade, Senator Warfield, in the role of Acting Chair. I congratulate Senator Higgins for this excellent well thought out legislation. I am quite taken aback by the comments made by Senator Pauline O'Reilly. She spoke about throwing about nonsense figures. The only figure mentioned was by Senator Boyhan, who suggested six months rather than 12. To make a comment such as she did shows either she was not listening or not showing respect to the very hard work done on the Bill.

Like others, I am frustrated about the 12 months. We have heard from most people that this is a very good well thought out Bill. Senator Murphy made some constructive points that need to be addressed. Six months is more than adequate in which to do so.

What I like about the Bill is that it highlights the real untapped potential of public procurement. We spend €12 billion but we have an extremely narrow set of criteria about price and price only. Many people have referred to the disasters that can unfold under this process, such as the children's hospital. I suspect all of us would agree on this. The Bill also blows out of the water the myth that social clauses must be restricted because of the EU rules on procurement. This has been really well called out by Senator Higgins, not just in the Bill but in a series of meetings we have had in the run up to it.

With regard to public procurement, the European Commission states, "Public authorities can engage in socially-responsible public procurement by buying ethical products and services, and by using public tenders to create job opportunities, decent work, social and professional inclusion and better conditions for disabled and disadvantaged people." This is what was allowed when the directive was put in place in 2014. It is a real tragedy the Government at the time ignored all of this and went in with the minimum possible requirements just on price. It is hugely disappointing. We now have an opportunity to change it. What I particularly like about the Bill is that it fits in well with Sinn Féin's policy of community wealth-building. This is about anchor institutions talking to each other across every locality. In Limerick, for example, it would involve University Hospital Limerick, the council and the university. It would get core principles applied across those anchor institutions in how they go about procurement, as well as look at issues like low-carbon footprint, a living wage and recognising the right of people to join and be represented by trade unions and awarding points on those. That would be transformative to people's lives.

Canteen staff in a Galway hospital who work for one of the biggest multinationals in the world have been in contact with me. They are front-line workers serving meals for people in the hospital but are paid just the bare, miserable minimum wage. What happens to anyone who steps out of line, talks about wanting to join a trade union or take action? They do not get work the following week. That is how public procurement works at the moment. There is something fundamentally wrong and broken with the system. The point is that it can be changed. This Bill points to the way in which we can do that.

I am very taken by the fact that in 73% of contracts in the Netherlands, there is no additional cost. Again, we see how it can work better. Senator Murphy is correct about local builders missing out. The procurement game does not work well enough for small local builders. I spoke to a councillor in Limerick earlier who told me that small builders have missed out on the work relating to 150 local authority housing voids. The big contractors are incredibly slow at doing the work meaning we lose out in terms of the results because of the way procurement is currently stacked. We need to do it differently.

In 2015, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions called on the Government to do much more with the original directive. Of course, it was not done. Now we have this amendment to extend it for 12 months. Does anyone remember the last time we were told about kicking it out for 12 months? What was that about? It was about Seanad reform. Everyone knows where we are going with Seanad reform under this Government. It is not going to happen.

Where is the Green Party making a difference? We know what to expect from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In fairness, they are open about the fact they are conservative, right-of-centre parties. The Green Party was supposed to make a difference. The way the Minister of State can make a difference is by not waiting 12 months and kicking the can down the road. He can make a real difference, with the huge amounts spent each year, to people's lives and working conditions by building decency in public procurement. Why does he not at the very least take up the sensible response put forward by me, Senators Higgins and Boyhan and others and buy into a period of six months? Six months would give us plenty of time to do the additional work. It should not be forgotten that Senator Higgins has done work on this Bill for the past several years, including in the previous Oireachtas. The idea of this conversation only starting is not the case. This is the fruition of that work. It is a really well-thought out Bill. We believe it is legally sound. We would prefer to do a little bit more in terms of being more specific about workers' rights but that could be done on Committee Stage.

Right now, we have to make a decision collectively. Do we move forward with this Bill, take a six-month timeline and come back to make those changes in order that we can make real differences at the end of this year for the coming year? Do we make a real difference to procurement or do we kick the can down the road? If we choose the latter, that would be a huge failing. It would be another example of where the Green Party said it was going to make a difference but then basically faded away into the background doing what the civil servants told it to do. I want to put on the record that I believe there is an ideological issue at the heart of this. In the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, there is a real resistance to building in decency, particularly in the context of collective bargaining and a living wage. That is a fundamental problem we need to overcome. The Minister of State can do better. I implore him to do better today.