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The Government has launched a new website to track goods and services being offered by organisations to help respond to Covid-19.
The Government has launched new webpage to facilitate and track offers of assistance from businesses and other organisations that can provide supplies, goods and services to help in the national response to Covid-19.
In a statement, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation said that various organisations have been contacting the Government and the HSE with offers of help in recent weeks.
With the new webpage, these offers will be captured in one central database so the Government can ensure they are available to the right parts of the public service. It is accepting offers from businesses, voluntary bodies and educational institutions.
The webpage was developed by the Office of Government Procurement, with the support from the Government’s chief information officer.
How you can help
At the moment, the Government said its highest priority is securing personal protective equipment (PPE) for front-line public services, although this may change as the situation develops.
Businesses and organisations offering assistance or donating goods and services need to provide a number of details to the Government, including information on the availability of the goods and services and contact details for their organisation.
The database has been set up solely for the emergency period and will not replace the normal procurement procedures that the Government already has in place. The Government said that it continues to receive the vast majority of the goods and services it requires from existing contractual arrangements.
‘Critical support’
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, TD, said: “Ever since the scale of the challenge of Covid-19 became clear, businesses and organisations of all sizes, from right across the country, have come forward to offer their critical support to our public services.
“These offers of assistance have made a key contribution to our efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19 and I want to thank those behind each and every offer received. This new online portal will provide one central repository for all future offers and help ensure that we can direct them as efficiently as possible across the Government system.”
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe, TD, added: “In our time of great need, it is encouraging to learn of the extent of goodwill from businesses and organisations who are eager to offer assistance in whatever way they can.
“This new webpage will facilitate companies in their acts of altruism, making it easier for them to support the national response. We are experiencing a time of great global uncertainty, but we are all in this together.”
