At least €45m worth of contracts were not put out to competition by government ministries last year, breaking EU rules, according to figures from the national audit office.

Worst offender was the justice ministry, which failed to put deals worth €22.5m out to tender. Social affairs and the finance ministries were in second and third place on the blacklist.
Earlier this week it emerged that aid minister Bert Koenders had given a €750,000 contract to organise an event to an organisation run by close Labour party supporters. Under EU rules, all government contracts worth over €137,000 should be open to competition.
A spokesman for the audit office said ministry spending would be looked at particularly closely this year.
The upper and lower houses of parliament also broke the rules on tendering, the auditors office said.