Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. Public procurement is the acquisition, whether under formal contract or not, of works, supplies and services by public bodies. National rules governing public procurement must comply with the relevant EU, WTO and national legal requirements and obligations. Under EU law, public contracts above a certain value must be advertised EU-wide and awarded to the most competitive tender in an open and objective process. The aim of European and national rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money.

In this regard, public procurement rules include provisions that allow member states to require a contractor to comply with EU and national legislation on the protection of labour rights. As a consequence, public procurement procedures require applicants to meet certain standards when applying for public contracts and applicants are required to make declarations in regard to their financial standing and legal standing and in regard to payment of taxes and social contributions. They must also be compliant with relevant labour law. These requirements are set out in the template documents used in tendering for goods and services which have been developed by the Office of Government Procurement in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor's office.

I launched new Public Procurement Guidelines for Goods and Services last July. These guidelines promote and reinforce improved best practice, standardisation and consistency of approach among public procurement practitioners. However, the management of a tendering process for a public contract is a matter for each contracting authority and it is the contracting authority's responsibility to assess that tenderers comply with all the requirements of the process.

Once awarded, the conditions of the public works contracts require the contractor to certify compliance with employment law, to maintain records of all those employed on the site, regardless of whether they are employees of the contractor or their subcontractors, and the hours worked by them. Where requested, the contractor must also provide details of the payments made to those employed on the site.

Where the contractor fails to comply with its obligations under the contract or employment law, deductions may be made from payments due under the contract until the situation is rectified.

It is important to note that employment law and its enforcement, in both public and private contracts, is a matter for the relevant State authorities, including the Workplace Relations Commission and the Departments of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

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