MR. FIELDI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury will he explain why, notwithstanding that advertisements have been annually issued by the Irish Prisons Board inviting the supply of prison services, certain contracts have for many years been given to the same firm, although other tenders have been handed in; and whether any steps are taken to test the relative merits of the samples?
MR. J. MORLEYThe General Prisons Board inform me they are not aware to what contracts reference is made. The firms from whom tenders are accepted vary much from year to year, and in all cases the contracts are decided on their merits. The relative merits of the samples are examined by the Board, aided, where desirable, by Reports from experts and the Governors of Prisons.