Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 January 2025
64. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs 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. [2035/25]
View answerThe policy of the Department is to operate competitive tendering in order to achieve best value for money.
Procurement takes place in the context of EU Directives and supported by procurement guidelines published by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). The Department participates fully in on-going initiatives of the OGP focusing especially on achieving procurement savings and delivering value for money, including the use of shared framework agreements for the provision of different categories of supplies and services. Central to those procedures is the requirement to allow fair competition between suppliers through the submission of tenders following advertisement. It is open to companies and individuals who are tax resident outside of Ireland to participate in tender competitions.
It is a condition of a contract award that successful tenderer(s) shall for the term of such contract(s), comply with all EU and domestic tax laws. My Department requires that successful tenderers supply a Tax Clearance Access Number and Tax reference Number to facilitate online verification of its tax status prior to making payment. This does not provide my Department with information as to the tax residency of the suppliers. Therefore, the information requested is not available to my Department.
