Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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466. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 515 and 516 of 25 February 2025 and No. 448 of 25 March 2025, all of which sought basic procurement-related data, including the number of public tenders that came in over, on, or under the awarded value, and the total procurement spend by his Department and its agencies in recent years, the reason his Department was unable to provide this information, stating in each case that “the information sought is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work”; and how it can be considered consistent with good governance that one of the State’s largest and most strategically important Departments cannot state in precise terms the amount it has spent on public procurement in recent years.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35555/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department operates a decentralised procurement model, where procurement and contract management is the responsibility of the budget holder, who is usually the head of the business unit. The heads of those eighty-one business units are responsible for ensuring compliance with my Department's Procurement Policy and all applicable national and EU rules and regulations and Office of Government Procurement guidance.

Compiling five years of records of procurement activity, including total expenditure; the number of public tenders that came in over, on, or under the awarded value; and any spend in excess of contract award value, from the eighty-one business units of my Department, would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work. Parliamentary Question Nos. 515 and 516 of 25 February 2025 and No. 448 of 25 March 2025 were exceedingly broad in scope. The information requested is held at a business unit level but compiling the information would require an immense amount of time and staff resources. Relevant information held centrally and readily available was provided in the replies.

To ensure transparency and in accordance with the Freedom of Information Publication Scheme, my Department maintains and publishes a central Contracts Register of all contracts awarded that exceed €25,000 (excluding VAT). Circular 40/2002 requires the preparation of an annual report of all contracts awarded without a competitive process, including an explanation as to why a competitive process was not undertaken. The 40/2002 report is signed by the Accounting Officer and sent to the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General. My Department also publishes quarterly reports of procurement related payments over €20,000. The Contracts Register and quarterly reports are available at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/organisation-information/procurement/

My Department maintains an environment of good corporate governance, ensuring an effective system of internal financial control as set out in its Corporate Governance Framework which can be found at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/organisation-information/corporate-governance-framework/ Financial responsibilities are managed through a system of delegation and accountability. Reporting arrangements have been established at all levels where responsibility for financial management has been assigned and there is an Audit Committee to provide advice on discharging responsibilities for the internal financial control system.