The Government is looking at its arrangements for public procurement to see if better opportunities can be developed for small business, according to Minister for Enterprise and Jobs Richard Bruton.
He said that it was common knowledge that a higher proportion of Irish public procurement went overseas than was the case in most European countries.
“Sometimes the qualification thresholds are set too high and they automatically exclude the smaller business. We want to see new opportunities developed and we are working with the Department of Finance to open up those opportunities,” he said.
He said that the Government needed to look at pre-qualification rules put in place for companies seeking State procurement contracts and to examine opportunities that could be opened up for small business.
Mr Bruton said Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister of State Brian Hayes were looking at such possible opportunities. He said that Enterprise Ireland also had programmes which were being developed with procurers to try to open up opportunities for business.
Mr Bruton was speaking at the launch of new research which found that an increase in spending of €4 per week on Guaranteed Irish goods and services by consumers could create over 6,200 new jobs in Ireland.