Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. My Department has made significant progress on incorporating environmental, economic and social considerations into public procurement which must be undertaken in accordance with the EU directives. In 2018, the OGP within my Department published an information note entitled Incorporating Social Considerations into Public Procurement. The OGP subsequently issued Circular 20/2019: Promoting the use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement. This instructed Departments to consider including green public procurement, GPP, criteria in public procurement processes. The OGP launched the online GPP criteria search tool in 2022 to further assist public buyers in selecting appropriate national green procurement criteria that have been developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. An OGP web page on sustainable public procurement provides additional information, including a frequently updated sustainable public procurement news section.

The interdepartmental strategic procurement advisory group chaired by the OGP and its environmental subgroup, co-chaired with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, promote strategic procurement encompassing the circular economy, climate, energy and wider social challenges. The SME advisory group I chair provides a forum for business representative bodies to discuss procurement issues including consultation on the recent Circular 05/2023: Initiatives to assist SMEs in Public Procurement. This circular provides measures promoting SME participation in public procurement competitions. In practical terms, the OGP and its partner central purchasing bodies across the health, education, defence and local government sectors are incorporating green and social considerations into their framework agreements. The OGP has implemented GPP criteria in 47 of its solutions to date.

The Government's Climate Action Plan 2021 introduced a requirement to procure electric vehicles in the public sector climate action mandate, which the OGP supported through a central purchasing arrangement. Climate Action Plan 2023 expands public sector GPP commitments to specific categories such as paper, vehicles, heating, catering and construction, and implementation in line with the EPA's Green Public Procurement Guidance for the Public Sector published in 2021.

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