Holly Cairns
Question:
460. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide details of any public contracts in his Department provided to companies or individuals who do not pay tax in Ireland, including the names of the contractor, value of the contract and purpose of the contract, in tabular form. [2032/25]
View answer
My Department operates a devolved procurement function whereby each business unit and Office of the Department is responsible for the procurement of their own goods, services and related contracts, with corporate oversight via a Procurement Co-ordination Unit, headed at Principal Officer level.
The Offices of the Department include the Companies Registration Office (which incorporates the Registry of Friendly Societies and the Register of Beneficial Owners), the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland, the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission.
My officials are working to provide the Deputy with the information sought, to the fullest extent possible, on any public contracts my Department provided to companies or individuals who do not pay tax in Ireland, including the names of the contractor, value of the contract and purpose of the contract. These details will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible over the coming days.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Orders.
Response attached I refer to Parliamentary Question 2032/25 for answer on 22nd January 2025 where I indicated that additional time would be needed to obtain the requested information.
“To ask the Minister for Enterprise; Trade and Employment to provide details of any public contracts in his Department provided to companies or individuals who do not pay tax in Ireland, including the names of the contractor, value of the contract and purpose of the contract, in tabular form.”
As indicated in my previous reply my Department operates a devolved procurement function whereby each business unit and Office of the Department is responsible for the procurement of their own goods, services and related contracts, with corporate oversight via a Procurement Co-ordination Unit, headed at Principal Officer level.
The Offices of the Department include the Companies Registration Office (which incorporates the Registry of Friendly Societies and the Register of Beneficial Owners), the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland, the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission.
Under the Collector-General Electronic Tax Clearance (eTC) Guidelines & Procedures, it is a standard requirement that a Tax Clearance Certificate is needed if a company or supplier receives more than €10,000 a year in payments from any public sector body in advance of paying any invoice. Indeed, my Department cannot engage with any supplier for a value greater than €10,000, regardless of where resident, without having a tax clearance certificate.
A Tax Clearance Certificate is confirmation from the Revenue Commissioners that a company or individuals tax affairs are in order. As you will be aware, the tax affairs of any individual or company are ultimately a matter for the Revenue Commissioners.
Bearing the above in mind I am informed that all current procurements in my Department and in the Offices of my Department are tax compliant.
I trust this is of assistance to you.
