Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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61. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the details of contracts Pobal holds with Government Departments; the fees Pobal has received for these contracts for the most recently published year; if the contracts Pobal holds with Government Departments were awarded via a tendering process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8732/18]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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62. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the contract his Department has in place with Pobal; the services Pobal provides on behalf of his Department; if the contract with Pobal was awarded following a tendering process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8731/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 and 62 together.

Pobal is a not-for-profit company that manages programmes on behalf of the Irish Government and the EU. The Company operates under the aegis of my Department, which has an oversight and governance role.

The overall governance arrangements between my Department and Pobal are set out in a framework Service Level Agreement (SLA). In addition, there are programme-specific Service Agreements in place in respect of each individual programme which Pobal operates on my Department's behalf. The most recent framework SLA relating to Pobal was signed by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in July 2015 and expired in December 2017. My Department is currently in the process of finalising an updated SLA and the previous SLA remains in operation until the new agreement is concluded.

Pobal currently has responsibility for delivery of approximately 25 programmes on behalf of four different Government Departments.The majority of the programmes operated by Pobal are managed on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs; other Government Departments who use Pobal’s services are the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Department of Health and my own Department. Each programme that Pobal manages and supports differs, as does the extent of Pobal’s involvement. The company operates within programme-specific Service Agreements established with each individual Department. Each year the Company agrees a Programme of Work with each Government Department for any work they are requested to undertake.

With regard to procurement, legal advice was obtained a number of years ago from the Attorney General's Office to the effect that, due to the nature of its work which is exclusively on behalf of the State, Pobal was exempt from the requirements of the EU Procurement Directive. Accordingly, the services provided by Pobal on behalf of Government Departments in the management and operation of state funded programmes are not subject to a tendering process. Pobal are, however, subject to audit on an annual basis by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

In relation to fees, the most recent audited and published accounts of the company show that, in 2016, Pobal administered programmes to the value of approximately €428.4m and their administration budget was 4.65%. The details are set out in the table below. Pobal will publish details of 2017 service fees following the Annual General Meeting of its directors later this year. `