Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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115. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reason his Department publishes details of purchase orders over €20,000 in value on an annual basis, when the standard practice across other Government Departments is to publish such data on a quarterly basis, in line with transparency commitments and relevant public service reform measures; and if his Department intends to align its reporting frequency with other Government Departments to ensure consistency and comparability in transparency practices. [38234/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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My department is fully committed to the principles of openness, transparency and the accountability of public bodies.

In line with an action in the Public Service Reform Plan (2011), my Department publishes all purchase orders of €20,000 or over on its website at the following link - www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/collections/department-of-justice-purchase-orders-issued-over-20000-in-value/. The list of Purchase Orders for 2024 will be published in the coming weeks.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (2014) establishes a structure to support the regular 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 the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation. This model scheme includes the publication of purchase orders for both goods and services of €20,000 or over, or in the case of the HSE €100,000, on a quarterly basis. As the Deputy is aware the model is a guide and not a requirement, and specifically provides for each public body to publish their own FOI scheme which may differ.

My Department’s current FOI Publication scheme provides for annual publication of purchase orders. The scheme is currently being updated and I can inform the Deputy that the updated FOI Publication scheme will include the publication of purchase orders on a quarterly basis.

The current FOI scheme can found at .