COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 09, 2024

QUESTION NO.

QUESTION: Councillor D. Adelaide

To ask the chief executive under what conditions the council would deem it appropriate to refuse to award procurement contracts to companies with links to (or operating within states charged with) genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.  It is noted that the awarding of public procurement contracts is carried out in accordance with the revised directive 2014/24/EU (transposed into Irish law in 2017).

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council awards procurement contracts as prescribed within EU public procurement directives. Neither EU public procurement directives or public procurement as transposed into Irish law contain provisions to refuse the award of procurement contracts to companies on the basis of their having links to (or operating within states charged with) genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

The rationale of the EU public procurement regime is to open up the public procurement market and to ensure the free movement of goods, services and works within the EU and promotes the fundamental principles of non-discrimination, free movement of goods and services and freedom of establishment. These principles are reinforced in secondary EU law by the EU Directives on public procurement which set out precise rules and procedures designed to ensure equal treatment, mutual recognition, proportionality and transparency in the awarding of public contracts. The EU Directives on public procurement are transposed into Irish national law by Member States. Transposition in Ireland, is by way of Statutory Instrument (S.I.). Even in the case of procurement which might not be subject to the full scope of the Directives, the European Commission (EC) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have ruled that the Treaty principles must be observed. CJEU case law implies a requirement to publicise contracts to a degree which allows parties in other Member States the opportunity to express an interest or to submit tenders.

All procurement opportunities in South Dublin County Council for contracts worth in excess of €50,000 for goods and services and €200,000 for works, are advertised on E-Tenders, www.etenders.gov.ie. National frameworks available through the Office of Government Procurement www.ogp.gov.ie and Local Government Operational Procurement Centre (LGOPC) www.supplygov.ie are also utilised.