Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Farrell. The programme for Government includes a commitment to review the public procurement process to make it more transparent and to encourage greater participation by SMEs and other entities the Deputy has just spoken about. Working towards this aim and in the interests of setting out the strategic direction of public procurement for the next five years, my Department is developing a first national public procurement strategy. Last week, I launched a public consultation, which is being run by the Office of Government Procurement, that will inform this strategy. The consultation is open for eight weeks – there are seven weeks left at this point – and I encourage SMEs and social enterprises to use this opportunity to help shape the public procurement system.

A key ambition of mine, as Minister of State in the Department, is to make public procurement more accessible for SMEs in the interests of making it easier for them to tender for Government business. That is why I am asking for their feedback through the survey and through workshops we will be running in different regions.

Ultimately, this consultation will inform our strategy, which we expect to be innovative, sustainable and transparent around public procurement that supports competition, ethics and value for money. Groundwork has already begun on this. In June 2024, my Department published a policy statement, Developing a New Public Procurement Strategy for Ireland. In September, in partnership with the European Commission, it ran a national strategic dialogue workshop on the use of green, socially responsible and innovative public procurement. The outcome of this dialogue was the publication of a roadmap towards the new national public procurement strategy.

In parallel with this, the EU Commission launched a programme of review of its procurement regime. That has now commenced, and my Department has been active in engaging and collaborating with counterparts in other member states on this. The Commission has signalled that a draft text will emerge in 2026. It is quite likely that this might happen while Ireland holds the EU Presidency.

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