Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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730. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the discussions his Department has had with suppliers or service contractors to his Department or to agencies of his Department to ensure that employees of such suppliers and contractors are paid the living wage of €11.50 per hour; the cost of implementing this wage for these employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1373/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s public procurement activity involves the acquisition of services, supplies, goods and works. Open public procurement procedures are used to engage external contractors to provide non-core services involving ICT, programme administration and general services. The Department meets its statutory obligations relating to minimum pay by complying with the European Procurement Directives and the National Procurement Rules by utilising the standardised set of Government public procurement documents.

The use of Government model templates of request for tenders for supplies, services and goods, which incorporate model template contracts, outlines the legal and procedural obligations placed on both the Department and tenderers regarding employment protection.

When issuing tenders, the Department publishes provisions of the contract and request for tenders simultaneously. The contracts clearly outline the terms and conditions, the specifications, charges and special conditions relating the operation of the contract in an open and transparent manner.

These details, including the employment protection provisions, are confirmed by the tenderer in his acceptance of the terms and conditions of the tender competition on contract completion.

Discussions are often conducted with tenderers following the tender process to conclude contract agreements.

Tenderers that fail to meet the wage level compliance requirements may be rejected at this stage at the sole discretion of the Department.

The cost in implementing this wage level requirement for contractor employees is a matter primarily for the contractor. While future contract prices may increase as a result of this change it would not be possible to quantify the cost of this change.