OPW defends Spanish printing contract

A STATE agency is defending the awarding of a €225,000 contract to a Spanish firm following accusations the move has costs jobs in Ireland.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) said the contract for the supply and printing of forms for the Collector General’s Office, which is part of the Revenue Commissioners, has just been awarded to a printing firm in Bilbao, Spain, because it submitted the most “economically advantageous tender”.

It said the tender, for the three-year contract, submitted by the Spanish firm Vasform, was also at the lowest price of €225,000.

“Contracts must be awarded on the basis of either the lowest price or the most economically advantageous tender,” said an OPW spokesman.

Director of the Printing and Packaging Forum, Gerry Andrews, however, said the Irish company that held the previous contract was “devastated”. He said four to five jobs have been lost in Ireland as a result.

Industry insiders also say that up to 5,000 more jobs could be lost in the printing industry if action is not taken immediately to help the sector.

The sector now employs 12,000 people in 700 companies and has a combined turnover of between €2-€2.5 billion a year. Five years ago the industry employed 17,000 people.

Mr Andrews said he has been canvassing the Government for three years, telling them the industry is in crisis. He said it is the responsibility of the Government and the industry itself to save the jobs.

“There are numerous things that we as an industry must do to safeguard our future. The difficulty we have, however, is that in spite of all the discussions and lobbying that we’ve done over time, the actions of the Government haven’t been forthcoming,” he said.

Mr Andrews said the industry in Ireland is not as competitive in some areas as other European locations.

Managing director of Future Print, Brian Reilly said: “The industry is in crisis. It was in trouble even before the recession.”

Mr Reilly said his business, which employs 112 people in Dublin, is applying to the High Court to have an examiner appointed to the operation.

He said staff have already taken a 26% pay cut.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance Martin Mansergh said 90% of printing contracts stay within the state. However Mr Andrews dismissed this as “nonsense”

“This figure is ridiculous and I would totally refute it,” said Mr Andrews, who could not give an estimate of the percentage of contracts that stay in the country. He said the Government must put in place a survival plan that would “save thousands of jobs”.