Vol. 432 No. 2
68 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Finance the degree to which Irish manufactured office supplies and equipment, including computer supplies, are provided to his Department or to offices the estimate for which falls within his group; the extent to which such requirements are met by overseas manufacturers where Irish alternatives exist; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
With regard to my Department and to the other offices under my aegis, purchases of office supplies and computer supplies are made following a competitive tendering process and in accordance with both Government and EC contracting rules and procedures.
In general, the bulk of tenders are received from Irish companies or from Irish agents of international firms, and therefore most contracts are placed within this State. However, details of the country of manufacture of supplies from these companies are not readily available. A disproportionate amount of staff time and resources would be required to extract these details from the relevant records.
Generally, any servicing requirements on equipment are performed by Irish firms.
