Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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235. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount of Irish produced beef the Office of Government Procurement have procured in the past five years; the plans to increase this; and if his Department has considered how EU public procurement rules can protect the use of Irish beef in public procurement. [50296/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Office of Government Procurement (OGP), a Division within my Department, operates as a Central Purchasing Body (CPB) establishing Framework Agreements and Dynamic Purchasing Systems for commonly required goods and services across 11 master categories of expenditure (Professional Services, Banking and Insurance, Consultancy and Advisory, Electricity and Gas, ICT, Facilities Management, Office Supplies, Travel Management, HR Services, Fleet, and Corporate Office Support Service). The OGP has established 83 such solutions.

The OGP does not directly procure beef products. The purchase of all beef products is conducted by individual Contracting Authorities.

Public Procurement is governed by EU legislation and national rules/guidelines. EU Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement (goods, services and works) has been transposed into Irish Law in the form of corresponding Regulations - S.I. No. 284/2016 - European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts), which forms the legal basis for the national rules governing public procurement.

This legal code is explicit in stating that the award of public contracts has to comply with the principles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the free movement of goods, freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services.

Notwithstanding this position, the Deputy should note that the EU Commission is reviewing the existing legal framework governing public procurement. My Department consulted at a national level to inform Ireland’s engagement with the Commission’s first phase in the review, the evaluation of the 2014 Procurement Directives. This phase is drawing to a close. The Commission have indicated the second half of 2026 for the legislative process to commence for the revision.

As the Deputy is aware, officials in my Department work with colleagues across departments to ensure a coordinated approach to serving Ireland’s strategic interests at the EU level. In addition, my Department works constructively with all other Member States to collaborate in the challenging task of guiding the procurement function into a model better suited to current and future market conditions.

In this regard I am very encouraged that Commissioner Séjourné wrote, directly, to me emphasising that this task is very much one of co-construction between the Commission and Member States. In that spirit of collaboration, I will work to ensure that our national interests are protected within the overall EU framework.