Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he plans to review public procurement procedures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4925/25]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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95. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way he plans to deliver the Programme for Government commitment to review the public procurement process and make it more transparent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5122/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 91 and 95 together.

Ireland’s procurement legislation is prescribed by EU Directives covering public procurement procedures. These Directives have been transposed into national law via corresponding Statutory Instruments. The relevant Directives, Directive 2014/23/EU, Directive 2014/24/EU and Directive 2014/25/EU, as well as the Security and Defence Directive 2009/81/EC, set out a range of procedures governing the procurement process through tendering to the award of contract. The specified range of procedures provide public sector bodies with a choice of options which may best match their public procurement requirements.

Since the end of 2024 the European Commission has initiated a comprehensive review of the current public procurement Directives, excluding the Defence and Security Directive. One of the key areas for the review is transparency and integrity, along with competition and simplification The Office of Government Procurement (OGP), a division of my Department, is fully engaged with the EU Commission in the review and will be consulting on the Commission-led review with procurement practitioners and policy makers on a whole-of-Government basis.

In addition, a number of initiatives have been undertaken at a national level by the OGP in recent years to enable better public procurement practice and to facilitate lower value tendering. These include continual enhancements to the suite of guidance for public buyers and suppliers, template tender and contract documents, the development of a digital Green Public Procurement Criteria Search tool, the publication of circular 05/2023 to support SME involvement and the launch of a new national eTenders platform.

Building on the work undertaken to date, the OGP is working to develop a first National Public Procurement Strategy. The strategy will support the Government’s aim of establishing public procurement as a strategic tool to be used by the public service to promote organisational and national objectives, promote better efficiencies across the public service and achieve the best outcomes for the people of Ireland. A public consultation on the new strategy is expected to be launched later this month and I intend to recommend the strategy to Government for approval before the end of 2025.