Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I command my NUI Seanad colleague, Senator Higgins, on introducing the Bill which I support. I welcome the Minister of State.

We have a serious problem with value for money in this country. It arises in part because of the quick-fix nature of Irish politics and public administration and the constant desire to seek out easy answers to difficult problems, often for electoral reasons. Flowing from this is the notion that when it comes to public procurement, the cheapest option would have surely delivered the best value for money. However, we have learned from bitter experience that is rarely the case. Anyone running a household knows the lowest priced goods or services are rarely those of best quality or indeed the best option for their circumstances and needs. Even households that are struggling to make ends meet will sometimes need to strike a balance by paying a higher price for improved quality for a product which might last longer, ensuring better value in the long run. Surely the same ought to apply to public procurement and public projects involving the spending of taxpayers' money.

The practice of lowest price tendering has often led to contractors undercutting each other, deliberately, but perhaps understandably, presenting unrealistic costings of projects to secure a deal. In some cases, it has led to contractors and developers collapsing because the project could not be completed based on original unrealistic projections. Quality and reliability are rarely properly considered. Once contracts are signed, the reality is the taxpayer assumes all the risk because the State often cannot allow key projects to fail. It is too late at that point to go back to the drawing board to review contracts or to address any deficits in the plans.Ultimately, this may lead to the State having to throw good money after bad to bail out failed contracts or failing projects. Ultimately, choosing the lowest price contract ends up costing the taxpayer much more. Surely we should be looking at this as a prudent householder would. Instead of choosing the lowest price, we should choose the best value price. I suspect that Senator Higgins would not be Margaret Thatcher's greatest fan but Mrs. Thatcher's obsession with value for money was brought home to me when my sister gave me the first volume of Charles Moore's excellent biography of Thatcher for Christmas. Reading it, I discovered that Mrs. Thatcher passed her driving test before managing to take two lessons that she had already paid for. Having passed her driving test, she took the two lessons anyway, which Moore described as an almost inhuman thirst to get value for money. Others would say it was because she still had not mastered the U-turn, as she never did.