Written answers

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Public Procurement Contracts

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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404. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a complete list of public bodies, including Government Departments, agencies, local authorities, and education and training boards currently required to report purchase orders of €20,000 or greater, as originally committed under previous public service reform plans and programmes for Government; and if he will provide details on the extent of compliance with this reporting obligation across these bodies. [1797/25]

Photo of Albert DolanAlbert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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405. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will clarify the reporting criteria that public bodies are required to follow when publishing purchase orders of €20,000 or greater, specifically the distinction between purchase orders for goods and services procured and other payments; and if he will outline any exemptions to this reporting obligation, including those justified under freedom of information legislation or other applicable provisions. [1798/25]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 404 and 405 together.

Following on from the 2011 Programme for Government, the Public Service Reform Plan 2011 set out that purchase orders for €20,000 or over by a Government Department or Agency should be published online, with this being implemented across 2011 and 2012.

The Freedom of Information Act 2014 puts in place a structure to support the routine publication of details relating to the activities and spending of public bodies.

Under section 8 of the Act, bodies are required to publish a scheme, having regard to the model scheme published by this Department pursuant to the Act. This model includes inter alia the publication of purchase orders for both goods and services at over a value of €20,000, or in the case of the HSE €100,000, on a quarterly basis.

Purchase orders are an important financial control mechanism and are often used within an accounting system as the mechanism to process payments for items that are not goods and services such as grants or compensation payments and do not fall within the FOI publication scheme. The aim of the publication scheme is to ensure transparency in terms of goods and services purchased.

Publication on foot of FOI obligations applies only to information that is not exempt within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act. This means that in some instances, for example due to security concerns, it is possible in exceptional circumstances that some purchase orders may not be published, but only where this is justified in accordance with the Act.

Insofar as this obligation applies to bodies that are subject to the Freedom of Information Act, there are approximately 450 such organisations. Because the legislation is set up to apply where an entity meets the criteria set out at section 6(1), rather than relying on a prescriptive schedule or secondary legislation, it is not possible to compile an entirely comprehensive and definitive list of all bodies that are subject to the Act. However, an indicative list is maintained by the Freedom of Information Central Policy Unit at my Department, and is available online for inspection online at

The role of reviewing compliance with the Act is reserved to the Information Commissioner, who is independent in the performance of his functions. As such, my Department does not have a role in this regard. The Commissioner publishes details of his work in his Annual Reports.

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