Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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349. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence whether his Department or any agency operating under its aegis has, in the past five years, used reserved contracts or included social clauses in public procurement tenders; and if so, to detail the types of contracts or clauses used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42851/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to best practice implementation of EU and national procurement legislation and guidelines, including in the procurement of military equipment. To ensure alignment with these regulations and requirements, my Department has established a number of governance mechanisms, including a High Level Planning and Procurement Group.

My Department closely monitors developments in procurement practices, including directives and recommendations issued by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). In this regard, my Department's utilises OGP advice, templates and framework contracts to the greatest extent possible, thus leveraging the central expertise of OGP in relation to "strategic procurement", an umbrella term which includes socially responsible public procurement, green public procurement, SME access and innovation.

In relation to reserved contracts, my Department and the Defence Forces have not used this form of procurement. In relation to the use of social clauses in public procurement tenders, the practice of my Department and the Defence Forces has been to promote socially responsible procurement, and consider matters such as energy efficiency, environmental impacts and disposal options in their assessment of tenders. My Department has identified appropriate sectors, such as in courier and catering services, for procurement from local suppliers and SMEs.

My Department fully supports the strategic procurement agenda, and has participated in a 2024 national workshop strategic dialogue on the use of strategic public procurement, led by OGP in partnership with the European Commission, the output of which was the development of a Roadmap towards a national public procurement strategy. Furthermore, my Department works with the European Defence Agency, providing input where appropriate to the EU's Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED), a collaborative initiative applying EU Green Deal principles to the defence sector. The term ‘military green’ is utilised as an umbrella term for fostering responsible and more effective capabilities for the future, seeking to reduce the carbon footprint of military operations and missions and to mitigate against adverse effects to the climate and ecology, while remaining committed to strengthening defence and crisis management capabilities. While the nature of military operations will require air, land and maritime assets to operate in their respective domains, it is an imperative for Ireland to ensure that our Green Defence Agenda is holistically balanced to develop a long term sustainable solution regarding the modernisation of defence equipment and infrastructure and the mitigation of our operational environmental footprint.