Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not dwell on this amendment. I mentioned the local employment service as an example. To be absolutely factual, it is 100% the case that it does not have to go out to tender. There is very clear guidance within EU law, procurement law and the 2014 directive on that, but I will leave it aside. I want to make it clear that there is nothing in my amendment that is tied to that example. The amendment, very importantly, relates just to the principle. It is the same kind of principle that applies to the public duty on equality and human rights. When the Department of Transport was contracting out bus services and failed to account for disability access in those services, the negligence of duty was on the Department of Transport. We remember how that became a big issue because it was not reflecting its duties in that regard. I am trying to ensure that when public bodies and public-facing State services are contracting other parties to deliver public-facing services on their behalf, it is made very clear that there is a responsibility to ensure the rights of Irish speakers who want to be able to access such services in Irish are protected and reflected, much as the rights of persons with a disability were at stake in the other example,. It is very important there is a clear process to ensure that happens in any public-facing service for which the State is responsible, even one it has procured and is not directly providing.