Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

In terms of green public procurement, I can confirm that last year the then Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications published Buying Greener: Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan 2024- 2027. That Department is the lead on this but the Office of Government Procurement helped to develop the strategy. We have been given a number of tasks, one of which is action No. 12, which tasks the OGP with replacing Circular 20/2019 to include updated instructions to Government Departments and the public sector regarding the new green public procurement obligations included in the strategy and action plan. That work has been done and the Minister, Deputy Chambers, is currently reviewing it and hopes to bring it to Cabinet in the next number of weeks. In terms of legislation, I agree with the Senator and hear what she is saying. Legislation probably would be very helpful in this space but it would be up to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, which is the lead on this, to bring forward legislation. I reiterate that a lot of work has gone into those green public procurement guidelines, which we hope to be in a position to publish and circulate in the coming weeks.