Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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633. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide the web links to his Department’s Q1 2025 and Q2 2025 published reports of procurement-related payments or purchase orders over €20,000 (in line with the FOI model publication scheme requirements); to confirm whether these reports have been published in full and are publicly accessible; and to state the planned publication date for the Q3 2025 report. [47742/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Procurement Related Payments over €20,000 report for the period Q1 2025, is available on my Department's website at www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/procurement-related-payments-over-20000-euro/. The report for Q2 is currently being prepared and it is intended to make the report available at the same address by the end of this month. The Q3 report will be published at the same address once the information has been prepared, this is usually by the beginning of the following quarter.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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634. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department will publish the procurement related payment reports (details supplied) in machine-readable formats such as CSV or excel on a quarterly basis, in line with open data standards; if not, the legal, technical, or operational constraints that prevent compliance with the requirement under S.I. No. 376/2021 to provide such documents in open, machine-readable formats for reuse; and the steps his Department has or plans to take to align its reporting practices with open data principles to improve accessibility, transparency, and re-use of this information by the public.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47761/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has published the procurement related payments report for Q1 2025 on its Open Data platform at opendata.housing.gov.ie and intends to publish the reports for the period 2014 to 2024 by the end of October 2025. My Department will continue to publish future reports on both gov.ie and the open data platform.

My Department currently publishes and supports a number of open datasets that are widely re-used, such as the National Planning Application Dataset (NPAD) and Generalised Zoning Types (GZTs). A complete catalogue of my Department’s available datasets can be accessed at the above referenced platform.

To support my Department in meeting its duties as outlined in the EU’s Open Data and Re-use of Public Sector Information Directive, an Open Data Liaison Officer has been appointed and an Open Data Policy has been drafted.

My Department’s commitment to accessibility, transparency, and re-use of data is also supported by its Data Strategy which sets the vision, mission and principles for data use. The strategy lists “Open Data” as one of its three key principles. The Strategy can be accessed at assets.gov.ie/240157/d094d925-65ef-49fe-b33e-d07c75920303.pdf#page=null.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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635. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total annual expenditure on public procurement by his Department (excluding agencies), covering goods, services, and works, in each of the past five years, in tabular form; to clarify if his Department maintains any internal system or process that allows it to accurately report its own procurement spend, independent of the published purchase order reports (details supplied). [47776/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Details of the total annual expenditure on public procurement by my Department, covering goods, services, and works, in each of the past five years are set out in the attached table.

The financial management system (FMS) operated by my Department requires expenditure to be categorised between procurement and non-procurement, allowing the FMS to be used as a basis for identifying procurement spend and for the production of reports.

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 hwww.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.

In addition, my Department has an internal audit function with the role of independently examining the controls and systems established by my Department; and reporting to Management, the Secretary General and the Audit Committee. The Audit Committee is independent and objective in the performance of its functions, providing advice and guidance on a broad range of areas including financial management processes and reporting.

My Department is committed to maintaining high standards in the management of the public funds entrusted to it and is fully committed to transparency, fairness and accountability in all its purchasing activities, reporting all financial information as required by regulation or statute.