Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2026
455. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether for procurement spend, a purchase order can be raised within her Department's financial management systems without reference to a contract, framework agreement, procurement process or other authorising arrangement; if so, the circumstances in which this may occur; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45162/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra456. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether an invoice can be paid by her Department without an associated purchase order having first been raised; if so, the circumstances in which this may occur; the number and value of payments made during quarter one of 2026 which were not associated with a purchase order; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45180/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 455 and 456 together.
As the deputy will be aware over 85% of my department's expenditure goes on payroll, pensions and grants to school which of their nature do not requires a purchase order.
Once a contract has been awarded, my department records relevant information specific to that contract, including category of the contract (goods, services, works), and any information on the utilisation of central procurement arrangements, on its contracts register.
Expenditure that occurs under these contracts is managed by my department on its Financial Management System (FMS), which is separate and distinct from the contracts register.
Within its FMS, my department has both Purchase to Pay and Accounts Payable functions. There are six line units within my department currently using Purchase to Pay which uses purchase orders and the remainder use Accounts Payable which do not. Therefore, invoices raised by those units using Accounts Payable are paid without an associated purchase order. The number of invoices paid in quarter 1 of 2026 which were not associated with a purchase order is 1,347 with a value of €43.8 million.
My department is due to move its financial management to the National Shared Services Office’s financial management system in Wave 4 of this project. Any further development of the current system would come at a significant cost and be for a limited time only. Therefore, it is not envisaged that there will be any significant changes made to the current system.
