Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is really good. I am delighted to hear the Minister of State talking about data collection. I did a survey a few years ago asking different public bodies about their use of social clauses. One body responded by saying that it paid the minimum wage. Obviously, that is not a social clause; it is the law. You have to do that.

I wish to flag another thing, which comes on the back of the Minister of State’s mention of ethical considerations. It is good that staff of the Office of Government Procurement have done that training because we can all do with extra training. The EU Commission has stated that there is nothing precluding member states and contracting authorities from including ethical considerations as a criterion for awarding contracts. A significant number of local authorities in this State have passed motions supporting ethical procurement policy. It is always really good when councils are looking at this as well. The response they keep getting from their respective chief executive officers, however, is that this would infringe upon the EU’s procurement directions. When the statements of the EU Commission are presented to them, they maintain this position even though it flies in the face of reality. Will the Minister of State commit to speaking to the Office of Government Procurement about this matter?

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