Thomas Pringle
Question:
52. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence , further to Parliamentary Question No. 179 of 30 January 2024, the value of the contracts currently in place with companies (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5428/24]
View answer
The detailed information sought by the Deputy is not readily available within the time frame sought. At the request of my Department the military authorities are conducting the search, retrieval and collation of same. I will arrange to have this information forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51
I refer to the above-referenced Parliamentary Question for which it was not possible to provide a reply within the available timeframe. I am advised by the Defence Forces that their records indicate there are contracts currently in place with Elbit Systems Land Ltd with a value of €184,334 since 2018 and with Elbit Systems C4I & Cyber with a value of €3,038,909 since 2018.
The principle of competitive tendering for Government contracts is used by the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces for the acquisition of goods and services. This is an EU law requirement and is in accordance with the Defence and Security Directive.
Central to those procedures is the requirement to allow fair competition between suppliers through the submission of tenders following advertising of the tender competition on the e-tenders site and on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), where appropriate.
Such tender competitions are open to any company or country, subject to the terms of all UN, OSCE and EU arms embargos or restrictions. There are no such restrictions or embargos in place on Israel or Israeli companies.
The Department of Defence will continue to carry out its procurement functions in accordance with the legal rules in place and is obliged to follow the established procurement principles for the selection of economic operators with regard to the award of contracts.
