Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Again, this overlaps with a question I answered earlier. Public procurement procedures require all applicants to meet certain standards when applying for public contracts.  In this regard, applicants are required to make declarations in regard to their financial standing, their legal standing and payment of taxes and social contributions.  The criteria upon which contracting authorities may exclude applicants from the award procedure of public contracts are set out in public procurement regulations and directives. Before an applicant is excluded, the applicant may make a case in mitigation and, as I said earlier, this must be considered by the contracting authority.

It is a condition of award of all public contracts above €10,000 that the successful applicant provides to a contracting authority either a current tax clearance certificate or demonstrates a satisfactory level of subcontractor tax compliance in the case of the construction, forestry or meat processing sectors, which are subject to relevant contracts tax.  The same tax clearance requirement applies to all non-resident contractors being awarded a public contract. 

The management of the tendering process for a public contract is a matter for each contracting authority.  It is the responsibility of each contracting authority to ensure that tenderers comply with all the requirements of the process.

See this speech in context