Wexford County Council rejects call to sever ties with companies ‘involved in breaching human rights'
However, Cllr Forde's motion was rejected out of hand with the council executive stating it 'operates its procurement activities in line with all relevant legislation, regulations, guidelines and its own public procurement policy and procedures'.
'WCC is committed to the promotion of the use of environmental and social considerations in public procurement, this is further strengthened in WCC's corporate procurement plan,' it added. 'Any proposed ethical procurement policy would have to align with the EU treaty principles of transparency, equal treatment, mutual recognition, proportionality, and non-discrimination.'
After the meeting, Cllr Forde expressed his disappointment that his motion was rejected, noting that the same motion had been passed in 13 other councils across the country.
"The purpose of this initiative is to ethically advance how councils across Ireland tender and who they are affiliated to in accordance with international law obligations," he said. "This motion has already been passed by 13 councils. It is something that could have been easily achieved here in Wexford. We should be no different in this sense and we should be pushing for more.
"Efforts to introduce such a policy have been quickly dismissed as being controlled by Europe and government and because of the potential to bring legal challenges, but I don't believe that is the case."
Asking that his motion be reconsidered, Cllr Forde said the adoption of an EPP would ensure the council does not 'financially aid businesses and companies investing, practicing or complicit in human rights abuses when tendering."
"We are living in an ever-changing world and we should be holding ourselves and human rights violators to the highest ethical standards," he added.
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