Written Answers Nos. 26 - 34.
26. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cost to date to the Office of Public Works of Ireland’s EU Presidency; the expected total cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24642/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe cost to date to the Office of Public Works of Ireland's EU Presidency is €9,616,404.21. The expected total cost is €12.2 million.
27. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when he intends to introduce whistleblower legislation. [24628/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe drafting of the Protected Disclosures Bill 2013, which provides for a comprehensive legislative framework for the protection of persons who are penalised by their employers following the reporting of wrongdoing in the workplace, is at an advanced stage and I expect to seek Government approval for the publication of the Bill shortly.
30. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has requested ministerial colleagues to prepare a list of capital projects which are ready for commencement; the way he envisaged these would be funded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24638/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraPublic infrastructure is funded in two main ways - Exchequer financing and Public Private Partnership (PPP) sourced-funding. My Department is responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and information in relation to expenditure at project level is a matter for individual Ministers and their Departments.
As regards PPPs, the Deputy will be aware that Departments and Agencies are obliged to consider procurement options for delivery of capital projects with a value in excess of €20 million. The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) assists Departments in this respect and helps to identify projects that are suitable for delivery through Public Private Partnership. This form of procurement involves upfront financing of the project by a private sector partner with the State making an annual payment to the company, following the construction period, which is performance based and covers the cost of maintaining and servicing the asset.
In 2013, €3.4 billion will be invested through the Exchequer public capital programme. The breakdown of this investment is laid out in the Revised Estimates 2013 which can be viewed on my Department's website (www.per.gov.ie). Additionally, in July 2012 I announced a Government Infrastructure Stimulus Package which included an Exchequer element of some €850 million. This Exchequer stimulus will be funded through the use of some of the proceeds from the sale of State assets and the new arrangement for the National Lottery licence. Progression of this element of the Stimulus Package is dependent on the realisation of those proceeds which are due to begin coming on stream at the end of this year. In preparation for this, my Department has been examining what Growth Enhancing projects could be progressed with this additional funding. That work is on-going and I expect that a number of worthwhile and labour intensive projects will be identified and progressed to an advanced stage of readiness before the State asset and National Lottery moneys come on stream.
31. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the steps being taken to address flood risks within the Shannon basin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24513/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraFlood risks within the Shannon basin are being addressed by the River Shannon Catchment Flood Risk Assessment & Management (CFRAM) Study which is a comprehensive assessment being carried out for the Office of Public works (OPW) by Jacobs Engineering. The work on the CFRAM study is progressing well. Details of the CFRAM Study and regular updates can be found on www.cfram.ie or http://shannoncframstudy.ie.
Operational control of water flows and levels on the Shannon is the responsibility of both the ESB and Waterways Ireland. With the co-operation of both bodies, the OPW plans to carry out a water level monitoring exercise, involving controlled raising and lowering of weir boards at selected locations, subject to favourable hydrological conditions. The situation is being monitored closely so that when suitable conditions prevail the exercise can proceed.
The ESB has agreed also to a trial lowering of the Spring/early Summer target levels in Lough Ree to reduce somewhat the risk of summer flooding in the callows.
33. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has concluded his review of the case for Ireland’s membership of the multilateral global Open Government Partnership. [24635/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that following the completion of the assessment, which included consultations with a number of civil society organisations, I recently secured approval from Government for Ireland to participate in the Open Government Partnership (OGP). A letter of intent confirming the Government’s commitment to the principles underlying the OGP and the intention to prepare Ireland’s first National Action Plan issued to the Co-Chairs of the OGP earlier this week. The Deputy may wish to note that a copy of the letter of intent is available on my Department’s website.
34. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will amend procurement rules requiring locally based agencies to purchase products from local suppliers when they are able to offer similar or better value to the nationally appointed provider, for example, when a local school has discretion to purchase stationery from a local supplier who is able to offer similar or better value than the nationally appointed supplier; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24512/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder EU law, public contracts above a certain values must be advertised EU-wide and awarded to the most competitive tender in an open and objective process. The aim is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers value for money. It would be a breach of the rules for a public body to favour or discriminate against particular candidates on grounds of location or nationality and there are legal remedies which may be used against any public body infringing these rules.
The National Procurement Service (NPS) has put in place a number of national arrangements designed to secure better value for money from leveraging the public service’s buying power in relation to a range of goods and services that are commonly purchased across the public service. These national arrangements have benefits that include:
- cash savings;
- administrative savings from reduced duplication of tendering;
- greater purchasing expertise;
- improved consistency; and,
- enhanced service levels.
Last year my Department issued Circular 06/12 which makes it a mandatory requirement that public service bodies avail of specified national arrangements put in place by the NPS. These national arrangements will secure best value for money and facilitate contracting authorities to deliver services within their budgetary constraints.
While the key purpose of Circular 6/12 is to enable the State to do more with less by aggregating procurement to secure better value for money, it is worth noting that such aggregation arrangements can be implemented in a manner that achieves value for money with a minimal negative impact, or indeed a positive impact, on SMEs. While a number of the categories of goods and services mandated under the Circular are suited to single supplier national arrangements, these need not be accepted as the norm. The greater use, where appropriate, of multi-supplier frameworks can address local supplier issues while also ensuring on-going cost competitiveness of the framework itself. Such multi-supplier frameworks may also offer SMEs the opportunity to participate in national level contracts, thereby offering valuable reference work when competing for public procurement contracts in other jurisdictions.
In order to encourage greater SME participation the NPS, over the past three years, has conducted a targeted programme of education for suppliers who wish to learn more about doing business with the Irish Public Service. This programme consists of seminars, workshops and large scale 'meet the buyer' events hosted nationwide. To date the NPS has facilitated workshops and presented at seminars to over 4,500 SMEs nationwide. Parallel with these events the NPS also works closely with business representative bodies such as ISME and IBEC to provide briefings for their members.
Larger enterprises were also encouraged to consider the practical ways that SMEs could be included in their proposals to maximise the social and economic benefits of the contracts that result from these tenders. For example, the indigenous company, which won the Stationery contract, with an estimated value of €10m per annum, is sourcing up to 60% of their products using 136 local agents and manufacturers. To summarise: we in government want better value for money for our substantial procurement spend and we want Irish SMEs, where necessary, to form alliances and networks to ensure they can tender on a competitive basis for this work.
