Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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309. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has considered the ongoing genocide in Gaza as part of the public procure strategy for government departments and public bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26457/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the deputy for his question and will answer it as I can within my remit.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to reviewing the public procurement process to make it more transparent and encourage greater participation from SMEs. Working towards this aim, and to set out the strategic direction of public procurement for the next five years I am developing a first national public procurement strategy.

The ambition of the strategy is to improve the lives of the people living in Ireland through the delivery of strategic, innovative, sustainable and transparent public procurement that supports competition and value for money.

In June 2024, my department published a policy statement: developing a new public procurement strategy for Ireland. In September 2024, in partnership with the European Commission, my officials ran a national ‘strategic dialogue’ on the use of green, socially responsible and innovation public procurement. The output of this dialogue was the publication of a strategic public procurement roadmap (2025) which informed the consultation phase for the strategy. The public consultation and stakeholder engagement phase of the strategy is still ongoing. Once this is finished my officials will review submissions and move to the next phase of the process, the drafting and formal engagement with departments.