OGP — the Peppol Authority and B2G e-invoicing since 2019

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) is Ireland's Peppol Authority — the public body that accredits operators and sets the e-invoicing rules. Through its eInvoicing Ireland programme it made it mandatory, from April 2019, for every Irish public body to be able to receive a structured electronic invoice compliant with the European standard EN 16931, over the Peppol network. This is Ireland's transposition of Directive 2014/55/EU.

History — from 2014/55/EU to the 2019 mandate

Ireland did not invent a national format: it plugged straight into Peppol, the pan-European document-exchange infrastructure ("Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line"). Directive 2014/55/EU required every member state to guarantee, on the public-buyer side, the receipt and processing of electronic invoices compliant with the semantic standard EN 16931. Ireland transposed this through regulation SI 258/2019, with the OGP as conductor.

The defining choice was not to build a central state platform. Where Italy mandated routing through the Sistema di Interscambio (SdI) and France through Chorus Pro, Ireland left the market of accredited Peppol Access Points to carry the flows — a decentralised model close to the Nordic countries.

2014       | Directive 2014/55/EU — mandatory B2G e-invoicing receipt
           | for all EU contracting authorities. Semantic standard
           | EN 16931 entrusted to CEN/TC 434.
           |
2017       | The OGP (Office of Government Procurement, under the
           | Department of Public Expenditure) is designated the Irish
           | Peppol Authority and launches the eInvoicing Ireland
           | programme (einvoicingireland.ie).
           |
2018-04    | EN 16931 published (final version). The Irish sectoral hubs
           | (health HSE, education, local government) launch their
           | Peppol pilots.
           |
2019-04-18 | EU deadline: central authorities required to RECEIVE an
           | EN 16931 e-invoice. Transposed by SI 258/2019 (European
           | Union (Electronic Invoicing in Public Procurement)
           | Regulations 2019).
           |
2019-11-18 | Extension to sub-central contracting authorities (local
           | government, public bodies) — the additional 18-month grace
           | period allowed by the directive.
           |
2020-2024  | Roll-out across the HSE (health), the Office of Public
           | Works, universities. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 = default
           | format. Network of accredited private Access Points.
           |
2025-2030  | Revenue opens VAT modernisation (2023-2024 consultation)
           | and ViDA alignment — the B2G Peppol layer becomes the
           | foundation for future digital reporting.

Governance — OGP + eInvoicing Ireland

The OGP is Ireland's central public-procurement office. As the Peppol Authority it signs the Transport Infrastructure Agreement with OpenPeppol, accredits the Access Points operating in the territory and publishes national usage rules. The operational programme is called eInvoicing Ireland and federates four public sectors:

• Health — HSE (Health Service Executive), the country's largest public buyer.
• Local government — Local Government Management Agency (LGMA).
• Education — third level and schools.
• Central government — departments and agencies, including the Office of Public Works.

Each sector ran its own roll-out, but all converge on the same Peppol technical foundation. The OGP does not process invoices itself: it sets the framework, private operators execute.

Technical schema — Peppol BIS Billing 3.0

The mandatory format is Peppol BIS Billing 3.0: a UBL 2.1 profile compliant with EN 16931, identified by its CustomizationID. Routing happens over the Peppol eDelivery network (the "4-corner" model): sender → sending Access Point → receiving Access Point → recipient, over AS4 transport, with address resolution via SMP/SML.

• EndpointID — the Peppol routing address. In Ireland the 9935 scheme (IE VAT number) is commonly used as the participant identifier.
• CustomizationID / ProfileID — declare EN 16931 + Peppol Billing conformance.
• PartyLegalEntity — can carry the CRO (Companies Registration Office) number via scheme 0211.
• InvoiceTypeCode 380 — commercial invoice (UNCL1001).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Invoice xmlns="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2">
  <cbc:CustomizationID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0</cbc:CustomizationID>
  <cbc:ProfileID>urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:01:1.0</cbc:ProfileID>
  <cbc:ID>INV-2026-IE-00417</cbc:ID>
  <cbc:IssueDate>2026-06-16</cbc:IssueDate>
  <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>380</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>
  <cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>

  <cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="9935">IE3854782AH</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
        <cbc:CompanyID>IE3854782AH</cbc:CompanyID>
        <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
      </cac:PartyTaxScheme>
      <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
        <cbc:RegistrationName>Dublin Components Ltd</cbc:RegistrationName>
        <cbc:CompanyID schemeID="0211">IE634215</cbc:CompanyID>
      </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

  <cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="9935">IE0000000W</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
        <cbc:RegistrationName>Health Service Executive</cbc:RegistrationName>
      </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingCustomerParty>

  <cac:TaxTotal>
    <cbc:TaxAmount currencyID="EUR">230.00</cbc:TaxAmount>
  </cac:TaxTotal>
  <cac:LegalMonetaryTotal>
    <cbc:PayableAmount currencyID="EUR">1230.00</cbc:PayableAmount>
  </cac:LegalMonetaryTotal>
</Invoice>

The Irish model vs central platforms

The Irish approach differs sharply from the continuous-transaction-control (CTC) models of southern Europe. Comparison:

Adoption — B2G receipt live, B2B voluntary

• B2G receipt operational since 2019 for central authorities, extended to sub-central bodies in late 2019. The HSE and the Office of Public Works are the dominant volumes.
• No B2B issuance mandate to date. Suppliers are not required to send e-invoices — but the public buyer must be able to receive one. The incentive is therefore pulled by public demand, not pushed by a universal legal obligation.
• Access Point network — private operators (Pagero, Tradeshift, OpenText, TIE Kinetix, Celtrino and others) provide Peppol connectivity for Irish suppliers.
• Cross-border native — being on Peppol, an Irish company can invoice a Swedish, Norwegian or Belgian administration with no additional integration.

Common pitfalls

• Assuming a general B2B obligation. In 2026, nothing requires an Irish company to issue B2B e-invoices. The obligation is on receipt by the public sector.
• Confusing scheme 9935 (VAT) and 0211 (CRO). Peppol routing uses the VAT number (9935); the CRO number (0211) identifies the legal entity in PartyLegalEntity, not the EndpointID.
• Omitting the Peppol CustomizationID. A "bare" EN 16931 UBL without the Peppol BIS 3.0 CustomizationID is rejected by Access Points: it is what triggers the Peppol validation rules.
• Thinking the OGP hosts a platform. The OGP is not an SdI: there is no single state endpoint to send to. You must route through an accredited Access Point.
• Ignoring 0% VAT. Many Irish supplies are zero-rated (food, books) — the BG-23 (VAT breakdown) must carry category Z and a valid exemption reason, or EN 16931 validation fails.

Cross-links

• Ireland hub — full view
• Revenue — VAT modernisation & B2B e-invoicing
• ViDA Ireland 2030
• Identifiers — PPSN, TRN, VAT number, CRO
• VAT regimes — 23 / 13.5 / 9 / 0%
• eInvoicing Ireland — official portal
• SI 258/2019 — Irish Statute Book
• OpenPeppol — BIS Billing 3.0 specifications