Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 December 2012
284. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 237 of 4 December 2012, if he will provide a list of all new services across his Department that have been tested for external service delivery since March 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55427/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is taking the opportunity to utilise external delivery of new non-core services as set out in the Public Service Reform Plan agreed by Government in November 2011.
I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is the designated Market Surveillance Authority in Ireland for the EU Directives on Ecodesign and Labelling of energy-related products and for the EU Regulation on Tyre Labelling. The Ecodesign and Labelling Directives were transposed into Irish law in May and July 2011 respectively and the Tyre Labelling Regulations were transposed in November 2012. My Department is obliged to implement an effective market surveillance regime and carry out surveillance activities to ensure that regulated products meet the requirements of the applicable legislation.
Such activities include:
- Inspection of products on the Irish markets;
- Analysis of technical documentation and test reports;
- Product testing in accredited laboratories.
The technical capacity and expertise to carry out the above activities is not presently available in my Department and these services were outsourced as required to suitable market actors through public tendering processes. The first such contract was awarded in November 2012.
