Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-01-14-Speech-2-547-000"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2014-01-14"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Award of concession contracts - Public procurement - Procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20140114.43.2-547-000"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2014-01-14-Speech-2-548-0002
lpv:speaker	lp:Paul Murphy2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, right now in Ireland we have a major scandal breaking which illustrates the reality of how public procurement functions, as opposed to the nice legal theory whereby everybody wins. To be blunt, in many cases it is simply a means for the political establishment to allow their big-business, big-corporation friends to enrich themselves by feasting at a trough filled with taxpayers’ money. We have the process of the attempted privatisation of the Irish water supply and the imposition of water charges: yet another austerity tax. Last year the Irish Government lied through its teeth to the people, saying that the property tax would go to fund local services, only then for them to be told that it would actually go to the setting-up of Irish Water, a new company which will levy that tax. In the last week it has emerged that the money has actually gone to line the pockets of major corporations, to the tune of up to EUR 80 million, through a public procurement process. It is a bonanza for consultants, major accountancy firms and major law firms. Almost EUR 50 million will go to IBM; close to EUR 20 million will go to Accenture; Ernst & Young will get close to EUR 5 million; McCann Fitzgerald will get EUR 1 million; A&L Goodbody will get EUR 3 million; KPMG will get over EUR 2 million. None of that has come out because of a process of democratic accountability, or through scrutiny or transparency; it has been dragged out, bit by bit, from Irish Water in the media. A week ago the managing director said that all contracts were awarded after an open competition. Now it has been revealed that four suppliers were awarded contracts without any competition. This is happy for all of them, but not for the taxpayer, who is paying for this process of privatisation over public good. Once an asset has been commodified, it will be privatised. As part of that process, we have councils voting to hand over water assets to this company, which will then in turn be sold for a song. This is a new frontier in a battle to push privatisation and transfer public wealth into private hands. Public procurement and privatisation must be resisted."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	member_of_the_bureau; EUL/NGL (2012-01-23--2014-06-30)3 unknown; Socialist Party (2011-04-01--2014-06-30)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (2012-02-29--2014-06-30)3 substitute; PETI (2012-01-19--2014-06-30)3 member; INTA (2012-01-19--2014-06-30)3 substitute; EMPL (2012-01-19--2014-06-30)3 member; Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia (2011-04-06--2014-06-30)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Paul Murphy,"1 "rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs"1
lpv:videoURI	<go to Events_and_structure europarl>2

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