Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 7 September 2026
1691. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the procurement and payment data that local authorities, including Cork City Council and Cork County Council, are required to report centrally; the format in which that data is reported and whether it is published in a machine readable form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59658/26]
View answer1692. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the Department or the Local Government Management Agency holds data on the concentration of local authority expenditure in the final quarter of the year; if so, to set out that data for Cork City Council and Cork County Council for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59664/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1691 and 1692 together.
In terms of procurement data, my Department does not have direct involvement in executive functions such as procurement. Under Section 149 of the Local Government Act 2001, the Chief Executive is responsible for the executive functions of the local authority. This includes general management, administration and day to day running of the local authority, subject to law.
Therefore, procurement and tendering processes carried out by each local authority, and compliance with procurement rules in relation to the same (including any reporting requirements), are directly a matter for the relevant Chief Executive. I have no role in procurement, or payment data, that local authorities may be required to report centrally to other Government Departments.
Each year, local authorities are required to prepare an Annual Financial Statement (AFS) by the end of March following the year end and to publish it by the end of June. The AFS contains local authority gross expenditure data and is generally available on each individual local authority’s website. These financial statements undergo an independent audit by the Local Government Audit Service. When all audits are complete, my Department compiles and publishes a consolidated AFS publication compiled from the Audited Financial Statements published by each local authority and this can be found on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/e103b-local-authority-annual-financial-statements/.
Local authorities are required to submit quarterly reports of the main income and expenditure items for each year to my Department, however this is reported on a cumulative basis and data is not available for quarter 4 separately.
My Department collects the data in plain text format from each local authority, converts it to spreadsheet format and then collates the data for onward transmission to the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, the Department of Finance and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). My Department has no role in publication of the data received.
Under Government Decision S29296 relating to Prompt Payment legislation, local authorities are required to pay valid supplier invoices within 15 calendar days. My Department collects this information from local authorities on a quarterly basis in Word and Excel format and supplies the information to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment for their review. My Department has no role in the publication of this data. Local authorities are obliged to publish this information on their respective websites. Details of prompt payments by Cork City Council and Cork County Council for Q4 in each of the years 2021 to 2025 are available at the following links:
www.corkcoco.ie/en/council/accessibility-maps-and-publications/prompt-payments-returns
www.corkcity.ie/en/council-services/public-info/spending-and-revenue/
I am not aware of the type of data that might be held by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), as that is a matter for that organisation.
