Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised)
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I am not aware, but I can tell the committee what the rules are. The situation is that the Department is the contracting authority - it engages in the contract and follows through on the procurement rules. I expect it would be done through emergency procurement. In that case they would not have to follow all the rules because they are in the position of trying to house people who have arrived on a plane in the past few weeks. They are trying to find any accommodation they can as quickly as possible. I do not know whether in the terms of the contract there is a clause specifying when the money would be paid, but I expect that there is. They are legally bound by whatever they have signed up to. The answer to the question is that they are unlikely to be following the normal rules of procurement. They have probably gone through emergency procurement and taken out a rapid contract with whoever the supplier is.