Dáil allows spending-transparency Bill
Deputy Albert Dolan secured leave to introduce the Tender To Payment (Public Spending Transparency) Bill 2026 in the Dáil on 10 November 2026. The Bill proposes a traceable record for public money from tender through to final payment, so voters can follow how State bodies award contracts, change them and ultimately pay for them.
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy asked: "Is the Bill opposed?" Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach Mary Butler replied: "No." The record then notes that the question was put and agreed to, giving Dolan permission to introduce the Bill.
Houses of the Oireachtas
- Dáil debate record, 10 November 2026 - Tender To Payment Bill First Stage
This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment.
What the ledger would link
The Bill would require that public spending be capable of being traced from tender, through contract award, contract, purchase order and invoice, to final payment. It would establish a Public Spending Ledger linking those stages, creating a single joined-up record for procurement and other expenditure.
Dolan told the House: "This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment." He said public bodies would have to report regularly, linking payments to the contracts, grants or other authorities under which they were made, and recording changes to contracts.
The long title provides for standardised, structured and machine-readable reporting by public bodies, covering public procurement, grant disbursements and transfers between public bodies. It also provides for a unique supplier identifier and for a basis to be recorded for every payment, including recurring and non-order payments, and for linking payments to the authority under which they arise.
Houses of the Oireachtas
- Dáil debate record, 10 November 2026 - Tender To Payment Bill First Stage
This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment.
The €10 million test
Dolan illustrated the aim with a practical example for taxpayers trying to understand the final cost of State deals. He said: "If a public body was to receive or to award a contract for €10 million, we should be able to see who received it, what was agreed, whether the contract changed, and how much was ultimately paid."
The Bill as described would also provide for aggregated reporting of public funding received by non-public bodies and disclosure obligations in respect of special purpose vehicles. It would provide for interoperability of the ledger with the public procurement data infrastructure of the European Union.
The proposal further provides for oversight, audit, assurance and sanctions, and for consequential amendments to the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993. That would link the ledger to existing scrutiny and audit law rather than creating a standalone publication exercise.
Houses of the Oireachtas
- Dáil debate record, 10 November 2026 - Tender To Payment Bill First Stage
This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment.
Why Dolan says answers are missing
Dolan said he had spent considerable time over the past two years examining public procurement and how the State records and reports its expenditure. He said basic questions still could not be reliably answered about annual procurement spend, spend with individual suppliers, and final payment compared with the contract award.
He put those questions directly: "How much does the State spend on procurement each year? How much does it spend with individual suppliers? When a contract is awarded how much is ultimately paid under that contract, and was what we paid for actually delivered?" He said any organisation should be able to answer such questions.
He argued the problem is not a lack of systems, but a lack of connection between them. He said: "We have procurement systems, we have financial management systems and we have contract award notices and purchase order reports. We have the pieces but we cannot reliably put them together."
Houses of the Oireachtas
- Dáil debate record, 10 November 2026 - Tender To Payment Bill First Stage
This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment.
What Dolan asked the House to back
Dolan framed the measure as a responsibility around public money, saying: "The first duty of Government is to serve its people. That carries a responsibility to manage public money with care, with competence and with accountability." He said that responsibility cannot be met if spending cannot be reliably accounted for.
He closed his introduction by commending the Bill to the House on the grounds that the State needs to buy better, manage its contracts better and deliver better for the people it serves. The exact closing words recorded were that the State needs to buy better, manage contracts better and deliver better before he commended the Bill.
Houses of the Oireachtas
- Dáil debate record, 10 November 2026 - Tender To Payment Bill First Stage
This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment.
What happens next in the Dáil
Céim a bhfuil súil léi: D’fhéadfadh an méid seo athrú.
First Stage is permission to introduce a Bill, not approval of its detail. Dolan also moved that the Bill be taken in Private Members' time, and that question was put and agreed to.
The Ceann Comhairle confirmed the procedural consequence for a Private Members' Bill, stating: "Since this is a Private Members' Bill, Second Stage must, under Standing Orders, be taken in Private Members' time." Detailed debate on the principles, as well as any reporting, identifier, audit and European interoperability provisions, will therefore await that Second Stage debate.
Houses of the Oireachtas
- Dáil debate record, 10 November 2026 - Tender To Payment Bill First Stage
This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment.
Conas a rinneadh an scéal seo: dréachtaíonn DáilDex nuacht go huathoibríoch ó thaifid oifigiúla agus ó thuairisciú náisiúnta, agus seiceálann sé gach foinse agus sliocht roimh fhoilsiú. Léigh ár modheolaíocht
Foinsí
1 foinse
Oifigiúil / Príomhúil
- Houses of the Oireachtas — Dáil debate record, 10 November 2026 - Tender To Payment Bill First Stage
“This Bill would establish a public spending ledger, creating a golden thread from the original tender, contract award, purchase orders and invoices, right through to the final payment.”