Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation his plans to support the printing industry here who are losing contracts due to under bidding from abroad which has led to several Irish printing companies going out of business. [8021/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Paper, Print and Packaging (PPP) sector is made up of a number of sub-sectors. The Print sub-sector (comprising print, packaging and promotional print) is facing significant challenges with a drop in prices and demand in recent years. A number of factors are contributing to the challenges including overcapacity, change arising from the move from print to web-based services, the economic downturn and access to working capital.

The Irish Public procurement market for Paper, Print and Packaging is worth €120m annually. In 2009, the Government established the National Procurement Service (NPS) to centralise procurement on behalf of Government Departments, offices and agencies, including the procurement of printing services. That year, 95.6% of the value of NPS print contracts (amounting to approximately €6.8m) went to suppliers in the Republic of Ireland.

The Public Sector presents a large market opportunity for the Paper, Print & Packaging Sector and is taking steps to further facilitate access to contracts for SMEs. These include recent issuing by the Department of Finance in August 2010 of Circular 10/10: "Facilitating SME participation in Public Procurement". · These new guidelines include:

1. Reduced Threshold of €25,000 for inclusion of contract notifications on e-Tenders website.

2. An assurance that all criteria used will be appropriate and proportionate

3. A reduced requirement for paperwork (such as accounts) at early stages of tendering.

4. An instruction that turnover and insurance levels would be set at proportionate levels

In addition a print panel for small print requirements below €25,000 has been put in place by the NPS. All print companies who are interested in public sector work should apply to be included and details of this have recently been published. To date, 55 companies have applied to be included in the panel.

Print companies can register for inclusion in the print panel listing at www.opw.ie/procurement/nationalprocurementservice/print