Health Procurement: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Seán Kyne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel

I move:
That Seanad Éireann:
acknowledges that:
- genomics is central to the future of healthcare, including diagnostics, personalised medicine, and population health management, and that expanding domestic capacity would provide faster turnaround times, leading to improved patient outcomes, enhanced data governance, and more sustainable cost structures;
- strengthening domestic expertise aligns with the Savings and Productivity Programme’s objectives of driving efficiencies, reducing expenditure, and improving compliance with procurement frameworks;
- some accredited commercial domestic laboratories are capable of providing additional capacity of high-quality genomic testing services to both public and private healthcare providers;
- reliance on overseas laboratories incurs high shipping costs, potential fluctuating international pricing and potential delays that increase downstream costs through prolonged hospital stays and delayed treatment;
- fragmented domestic provision and inconsistent procurement practices prevent Ireland from capturing economies of scale, delivering consistent quality, and achieving value-for-money in genomics testing;
- personalised data arising from testing is highly sensitive and should receive the highest level of data protection and by testing domestically, Ireland has the ability to uphold data protection and security standards in a way we cannot fully control with overseas laboratories;
- current procurement frameworks, including Prior Information Notices, limited to public sector laboratories, risk excluding competent cost-effective accredited commercial providers, undermining transparency, competition, and value-for-money for the taxpayer;
notes that:
- Ireland currently relies heavily on overseas laboratories in the UK, US, Germany, Spain, and Finland, with approximately 20,000 genetic tests sent abroad every year;
- this reliance on overseas laboratories results in associated cost inefficiencies, extended turnaround times, fragmented funding and delivery models;
- some of these overseas laboratories are not EU accredited;
urges the Government to:
- develop a coordinated national plan to achieve 50 per cent in-country genomics testing by 2030;
- include accredited commercial laboratories in future procurement processes in line with Public Procurement Directives to ensure open, competitive, and cost-effective delivery;
- review the cost and delivery models for genomic laboratory testing to improve patient outcomes, maximise value-for-money and reduce reliance on overseas providers;
- support the development of domestic public and commercial infrastructure and workforce to provide a sustainable, high-quality genomics service for Ireland.”

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29