Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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149. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence in relation to the NATO Partnerships for Peace agreements and the attempt to increase Ireland’s Defence Forces interoperability with NATO standards and systems, if these agreements have any requirements for arms, equipment, systems or other infrastructure to be procured from manufacturers in NATO members states; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7814/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has been a member of Partnership for Peace (PfP) since 1999, at which time the Government and Dáil Éireann approved Ireland’s participation, with the foremost priority for participation being cooperation in peacekeeping. Ireland's participation is tailored so that it reflects our national priorities, and is fully consistent with Ireland’s policy of military neutrality, which is characterised by non-participation in military alliances.

Participation in PfP does not involve any commitment to NATO’s common defence arrangements. Cooperation is the cornerstone of Ireland's engagement in PfP, and we use our engagement with NATO through PfP to cooperate on the training and skills needed for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, on the environment, and on marine matters.

Ireland's cooperation through PfP does not impose any requirements for arms, equipment, systems or other infrastructure to be procured from manufacturers in NATO members states.

The principle of competitive tendering for Government contracts is used by the Department of Defence for the acquisition of defensive equipment for the Defence Forces. Central to those procedures is the requirement to allow fair competition between suppliers through the submission of tenders following advertising of the tender competition on the e-tenders site and on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), where appropriate, in line with the EU procurement Directives, including the Defence and Security Directive.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy that the following significant capital projects are currently underway at Casement Aerodrome and Haulbowline Naval Base, at stages ranging from design planning to construction, representing a total estimated value of over €47 million: