I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take this matter. In anticipation of his answer, I know what he is going to say about cost savings in the public sector and note that I appreciate the need for that. Surely, however, it should not be at the expense of the small local operator. The procurement and tendering process has squeezed the lifeblood out of small operators in local areas. The contracts they had for Government and State agency buildings were their lifeblood. I refer also to caterers and suppliers to the HSE of foods, etc., stationery and office supplies to local authorities, and cleaning contractors to Garda stations and Government buildings. All of those people are suffering and the life is being squeezed out of them by the big operators with whom they cannot hope to compete. The big operators can buy all their supplies in bulk, reduce their costs and tender lower.

In line with the regional dimension to the Action Plan for Jobs, our aim is to keep jobs and create them in regional areas. This is an area where we are killing jobs in the regions. They have no hope. I have one man who employed 25 people. He lost a contract to clean a Government building and had to let ten of his 25 staff go. The Minister of State will probably say the new contractors will take people on, but they are taking them on at a different cost. They are paying them lower wages. I know for a fact that some people cleaning Government buildings - we are standing over this - are not paid bank holiday rates. Local contractors were available at short notice to the organisations and buildings involved and could come in if there was a flood or something else happened. They were there on the spot to deal with these things.

While we are claiming to make savings in the public sector by doing this, it must be asked if this is true in the longer term given that people who are let go from their jobs must claim social welfare payments. The revenue was circulating locally whereas the contractors doing jobs in the Kerry area, for example, who got the contracts through the tendering process are in Dublin. Once again, the revenue will be circulating in Dublin inside the Red Cow roundabout.

I ask that we look at this and instead tender by region. We should keep the tendering process within the regions thereby maintaining regional jobs. I understand that we must make savings. I am not naive. However, we should not squeeze the life out of the small operators in our local areas. I await the Minister of State's reply.

I thank Senator Marie Moloney for raising this matter. It is timely to do so as we have put in place a new structure, the Office of Government Procurement, for which I have responsibility at ministerial level. While 2014 was the year of the establishment of the office, 2015 and 2016 will be about ensuring that we have the structures right and that we put as many measures as possible in place to help SMEs. Any thoughts the Senator has in that regard - she has raised some today - will be given serious consideration. We may be able to consider that in a moment.

On the basis of this research, the sourcing team will have a full evidence-based understanding of the market. This will allow them to make an informed decision about how to go to market and the sourcing strategy, in such a way as to deliver the optimum balance between value for money and risk.

I would be the first to admit that we need to do more. We are actively trying to pursue more measures to help SMEs. It is not all about value for money, although it is absolutely about value for money for the taxpayer, but not just at a headline rate. We need our SMEs to be involved. We have put a range of measures in place and I look forward to building upon them.

Is the Senator satisfied with that reply?

Yes and I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive answer. I was delighted to hear him say that it was not all about value for money. Sometimes people can tender lower, but they do not do a better job. We had proof of that in my locality where a person tendered for a local sewerage scheme, but half way through he found he could not do it. They took my parish out of the scheme. We discovered later that he had made a terrible mess of another job, yet he still got the job because his was the lowest tender. Therefore, the lowest tender is not always the best.

I have been informed that while two people were working on some jobs in a local government building, that number has now been reduced to one. Yet they are trying to get the same work done in the same time, so corners are obviously being cut.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply which I will circulate to the local people who raised the issue with me. Hopefully we can come to some arrangement to ensure that jobs are kept in the locality.

I again thank Senator Moloney for raising this important matter. When discussing the issue with local suppliers, she and other public representatives should bring to their attention a number of new measures we have put in place to try to help SMEs. For example, we are currently considering social clauses whereby unemployment and disadvantaged areas can be factored into decisions. We will shortly have progress in that regard, as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, established a working group on that last year.

In addition, we have put in place "meet the buyer" events providing opportunities for SMEs to meet the big public sector buyers face to face. They can thereby have human conversations, rather than just talking to a machine.

InterTradeIreland is working on a cross-Border basis to provide supports and even grants for upskilling SMEs. I recently launched a new tender advisory service, which guarantees SMEs a quick turnaround answer to a query within a certain number of working days. Crucially, local enterprise offices have all been given training on procurements. The LEOs are the interface for all our businesses with the State and I want to see them playing a greater role. I look forward to LEOs holding many training and information days for SMEs in various communities. I would be interested in trying to bring one to the Senator's county in due course.

Have these face-to-face meetings taken place yet? If not, when is the timescale for all these meetings?

We had two last year - one in Belfast and one in Dublin. It is done on a cross-Border basis. Approximately 1,000 businesses were represented at the one in Dublin. I want to see them take place on a more regional basis though. I am examining how to roll them out to the regions, while working with LEOs. I will report back to the Senator in due course.

I thank the Minister of State.

The Senator has had a good run for her money.

It is not as if we are overcrowded today.