asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state the basis of the contract between his Department and a company (name supplied) for the production of the Classified Telephone Directory (Golden Pages); and if he considers that this contract is in the Department's and the national interest.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Classified Telephone Directory.
32.
The Classified Directory, Golden Pages, is compiled and produced by the company named by the Deputy under a contract placed by the Department following competitive tendering. Under the terms of the contract, the contractor is responsible for all the costs involved in producing the directory, he collects all the revenue from the sale of advertisements in it and he pays the Department a certain percentage of the advertising revenue or a guaranted minimum royalty, whichever is the greater.
The current contract expires this year and a new contract is being placed with the same company, with the approval of the Government Contracts Committee. The company were advised by my Department in January last of the acceptance of their offer and I am satisfied that the Department are now committed to accepting the firm's tender.
I do not consider that the production of the Classified Telephone Directory by the company concerned endangers the Department's or the national interest.
Can the Minister say why the production, preparation and distribution of this directory was not undertaken by the Department in the first instance; also, can the Minister indicate what were the profits made by this international company from advertising revenue, et cetera, which resulted from the contract placed with them by the Department? Further, can the Minister say what royalties and returns the Department got from this venture and if, whether next January, the Minister would consider seriously operating this service as a public service under the formal aegis of the Department?
There are a number of questions there. Departmental revenue has been of the order of £32,000 per year. The company concerned sustained a loss on their initial contract. However, they were the only company that tendered for the present contract to which my Department indicated agreement in January last. The Department have taken the view that the contract relieves the Department of the mainly specialised work which is involved in producing the directory, that is, the selling of advertisements. The Department took the view that they had not the necessary specialists to undertake the work that is considered more appropriate to advertising agencies or similar organisations who engage in this type of business.
That was the view taken. I think the Deputy has done well to raise the matter. It is of interest. It might be considered that the Department could have made an effort to get this going on their own but the decision has been taken and the company were notified in January that we were prepared to enter into the contract and although the formal contract has not been signed I think we are morally, and probably legally, committed to it.
While appreciating that the contract for this year must inevitably go through, does the Minister consider it to be in the national interest that a commercial monopoly has now, in effect, been given by his Department to an international company specialising in this work and likely to make, in the years ahead, a very handsome profit from it when, in fact, if the original decision of the Department had shown some imagination and less pre-occupation with private enterprise——
We cannot delay too long on this subject.
——this work could have comfortably been undertaken by the Department as a State service? Would the Minister review the position?
Deputy O'Connell is seeking to get in. Perhaps he might come in at this juncture.
Perhaps I could reply to that question first. The contract in question is a ten-year contract. What we indicated in January was our intention to enter into a ten-year contract. I do not think I am required to make a judgment at this stage as to whether that was a proper decision or not. It is a decision that has been taken. I am satisfied that it would be improper and might have widespread damaging repercussions for the Government to go back on it.
I accept that it is not the Minister's responsibility, that it was done by the previous Administration.
We now face a ten-year period. We will certainly keep the matter under observation and when this contract has elapsed we will see whether there might not be, nationally, some better way of doing this.
It is a licence to print money.
The Minister said they were the only company to tender last January. May I ask whether there was a public announcement requesting tenders at that time?
I understand there was but I shall communicate with the Deputy when I have checked further on that. This was handled through the General Contracts Committee and I take it that everything that was done conformed with the normal practices of the GCC.
We shall have to pass on.
Would the Minister look into this specifically because I keep a note of this and I have brought it up repeatedly in the Dáil. I noticed that last year there was no notice in any paper inviting tenders and while the Minister states, and perhaps rightly so, that they were the only company to tender——
Question No. 33.
The Minister——
The Chair has devoted a long time to this question.
It was a propaganda question, a planted question.
It was not planted.
The Minister said that as far as he knew it was advertised but he would communicate with the Deputy. Obviously a communication with Deputy O'Connell indicating that it was properly advertised will not get the sort of publicity that the allegation has been given today.
I have been raising this matter for three years.
(Interruptions.)
Order. If there is to be disorder the Chair will deliberately pass on to the next question. He has no option in the matter.
You should have done so before.
Oh no. Everything was quite orderly. I was concerned about the time allotted to the question.
I will look into the point raised by Deputy O'Connell. I want to correct an earlier statement of mine. I inadvertently misled the House and I wish to correct the statement immediately. The estimated revenue from the new contract will be a guaranteed minimum of £970,000 over the next ten years.
What does the company get? The company make about £2 million.
Deputy Haughey has been on his feet for some time. I want to bring him in.
(Interruptions)
The Chair is calling on Deputy Haughey.
Does the Minister's Department exercise any control over the format and content of this Golden Pages directory?
This must be the last question on the subject.
And also, is there an obligation on the publishers of this directory to include in it every name in the telephone directory or are they at liberty to put in whatever they wish and leave out whatever they wish?
I am not sure that I quite follow the latter part of that. Of course, the Department, as one of the contracting parties, have a general control over the general format.
He means is there a code of ethics employed.
My question is: must this company take every name in the telephone directory and put it into this directory or can they select and only put in what they wish?
As far as I know they must put in every name in the directory.
In other words, they must classify the whole directory?
Question No. 33.
Could the Minister——
I am sorry Deputy O'Connell. Is it a point of order?
It is a point of information. The Minister has stated the revenue that is accruing to his Department. Could he state what percentage that represents?
I do not think I can answer that.
I have a simple question. Would the Minister consider abolishing the other directory?