I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. I commend Deputy Gibney on introducing it to the House. I thank Senator Higgins for introducing it and shepherding it through the Seanad. I know a huge amount of work was done in the background on this. Senator Higgins obviously had extensive engagement over the years with businesses, representative groups, trade unions and broader civil society. This Bill received cross-party support. I believe it received unanimous support in the Seanad, which is testament to the work Senator Higgins did. It is, therefore, deeply disappointing that the Government is opposing the Bill on this Stage. Like others, I encourage it to reflect on that position. This Bill is definitely one for the policy nerds but it also seems to be stating the bleeding obvious. We all know in our personal lives the pitfalls and trade-offs that are involved when choosing the lowest cost option for anything, whether it is in a small and insignificant context like avoiding the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu or choosing to actively buy something Fairtrade in the supermarket. In doing so, we are making a choice about the provenance, quality and rights of workers behind these products. The choices we make are important. This applies even when we go on to bigger and more important choices in our personal lives, such as choosing the provider that will carry out work on our homes or the individual who will carry out a medical or dental procedure on us. It also applies when it comes to buying a cheap flight. If we choose the cheapest option, we are going to have to pay extra for an assigned seat, early boarding or flexible travel times. We all factor quality, safety and durability into our everyday spending decisions. Why are we not doing this with our public procurement? I cannot see any reason any government would not support this Bill. We all profess to be obsessed with ensuring our public funds are spent wisely and appropriately. We have seen too many incidents where that has not happened, as others have alluded to today. While we all want to see public projects being delivered faster and more efficiently, focusing on quality rather than just cost at the tendering stage may force those who are preparing tenders to look around corners and identify potential pitfalls or additional costs at an earlier stage rather than, as happens so often, providing us with multiple surprise obstacles and bills at a later stage of the process. This Bill has the potential to improve and speed up the delivery of public projects and critical infrastructure. It is fair to say that our public procurement system has not always served us particularly well. As has been noted by others, the lowest price model often results in longer term costs. Often, we see a contract being awarded to the lowest bidder and then supplementary claims start to build and build. The national children’s hospital is the most obvious example of that. Not only does this represent a waste of public money, but the drip-feeding of delays and additional costs undermines the public’s faith in the State’s ability to get anything right. There can be serious consequences too in terms of the human cost, such as those we saw with the CervicalCheck scandal. This Bill is trying to move towards a price-quality ratio model. It is essentially about ensuring that we are getting the best bang for our buck, which is exactly what the Minister of State is looking for. It should not always be about finding the cheapest way to get things done when it comes to public works. Scrimping on important infrastructure means further costs down the line. When we are talking about public funds, we should always strive to achieve quality, be it in service delivery or infrastructure. We must be mindful that public money is just that - it belongs to the public and we have to respect that. Showing respect for taxpayers does not always mean choosing the cheapest option. It means delivering value. If continually having to go with the cheapest tender means finding faults down the line, spending additional time and money on follow-ups, inspections and so on, we are not delivering value but, rather, wasting public funds. This is a timely Bill given that we now have a national development plan worth €275 billion before us, not to mention the Government’s accelerating infrastructure action plan. We know there are huge infrastructure deficits in the country, be it in public transport, education, housing, water or the energy grid, etc. We have a lot of things we need to spend money on and it is so important that we get these infrastructure projects right because we failed to do so too often in the past. Often, it seems to come down to the fact that we have been penny-pinching at important points. It is important that it is recognised within public bodies that there is a need for stronger criteria that would place greater emphasis on quality in awarding public contracts. We need a greater focus on who can provide the best outcomes rather than a race to the bottom on who can provide the lowest cost. The Minister spoke about value for money. Quality is value for money. Many Members referred to the Netherlands example today. While 3% was added to the overall additional cost of procurement, additional benefits of 240% were achieved in the outcomes of using these methods. There is no issue with looking for the best deal but it has to be weighed against the quality that will be delivered. This Bill brings us in that direction. I also hope that the move towards a more quality-focused approach with this Bill will lead to greater consideration of environmental and sustainability issues in our procurement processes. Something that I have raised before on the matter of public procurement is the need to prioritise contractors who engage in collective bargaining, recognise trade unions, respect workers’ rights and agree to engage with the Workplace Relations Commission and our dispute resolution bodies when required. A price-only approach to tenders only penalises the good companies that already invest in the environment, employment law, workers’ rights and human rights standards. The Construction Industry Federation and the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland support this, as do all the unions. The Labour Party is proud to support this Bill today. I commend it to the House.

Sentiment score: 0.25