Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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2858. To ask the Minister for Health the procedure that must be undertaken by Covid-19 air purification industry experts to submit their products and services to the Government for consideration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39401/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Public procurement of necessary equipment is managed through the State’s standard procurement and tendering processes, in accordance with procurement legislation.

Through the OGP and the sector-retained procurement functions, the Public Service speaks with “one voice” to the market for each category of expenditure, eliminating duplication and taking advantage of the scale of public procurement to best effect. This approach is in line with best practice in the public and private sector and is part of the continuing reform programme being driven by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

With regard to healthcare settings, tendering competitions are arranged when an operational need for specific equipment has been identified for a particular healthcare setting. The HSE manages tendering competitions as they relate to operational healthcare matters.

However, Members of the Oireachtas are advised that the HSE is currently unable to access the information to answer Parliamentary Questions due to the recent cyber-attack, which has required a temporary shut-down of HSE IT systems. The disruption to service is on-going, and the HSE is working hard to restore its IT capacity and resume normal services. Members of the Oireachtas will be advised as soon as the HSE is again in a position to provide responses to PQs and are encouraged to resubmit their Parliamentary Questions at that point.

The processes for procurement of such equipment in areas other than health is a matter for the respective Government Departments.