A South Monaghan councillor says he stands with concerns in relation to council tenders going to Northern Irish companies. The comments come from Fianna Fáil representative, PJ O'Hanlon, after local concerns emerged over a roadworks tender in Carrickmacross which went out to a Northern Irish company, but not for the first time.
Speaking on this morning's Joe Finnegan Show, Cllr O'Hanlon said this is a concern felt by the majority of members on Monaghan County Council. But, despite this, Cllr O'Hanlon said the problem the council has when awarding contracts is a direct result of legislation issues. According to Cllr O'Hanlon, through EU legislation, council's cannot give preference to awarding a contract to local companies - something which Cllr O'Hanlon described as "heart-breaking."
Speaking on this issue, Cllr O'Hanlon explained, "When you see Northern Ireland vehicles doing the work on the roads and you know that there are local companies within the county who are employing people, have kids going to school, paying their taxes, which means the money is staying within the Irish exchequer and their also benefiting local suppliers as well. However, instead of that, because of the EU legislation, a lot of these contracts are awarded to companies in Northern Ireland and that money whether we like it or not is going back into the English exchequer."
