The Irish government has cancelled a public procurement worth up to €1 billion for Microsoft software and services after concerns were raised by an interested party, reigniting debate over Ireland's reliance on US technology providers. The move comes as opposition politicians question why European or open-source alternatives were not considered, particularly given Ireland's current presidency of the Council of the European Union and wider EU anxieties about digital sovereignty following actions by the Trump administration, including sanctions that cut off the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor from his Microsoft services.

Minister Frankie Feighan told the Dáil the Office of Government Procurement decided it was "prudent" to scrap the tender and would issue a new Microsoft-only framework "as early as feasible," while reviewing the scope of the existing €350 million agreement, which expires in September 2027. Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan cited examples of other European bodies switching away from Microsoft, including Germany's Schleswig-Holstein, which moved 30,000 staff to LibreOffice, Linux, Thunderbird and Open-Xchange to save over €15 million annually, and France's Gendarmerie Nationale, which shifted 100,000 desktops to Linux for projected savings of around €500 million over 15 years.