· Bryan Collins · Guides · 8 min read
NUTS Code Ireland: The Regional Codes Used in TED and eTenders
What NUTS codes are, the full Irish NUTS hierarchy from IE04/IE05/IE06 down to county, and how to use them to filter public tenders by region on TED and eTenders.gov.ie.
A NUTS code is the EU’s standard geographic code for where a public contract is delivered, and Ireland uses three NUTS2 region codes (IE04, IE05, IE06) split into eight NUTS3 codes (IE041 to IE063). Every tender on TED carries one, and you can filter by it to see only the contracts in your region.
NUTS codes answer a different question from CPV codes. CPV says what is being bought; NUTS says where it will be delivered. If you bid for public work in Ireland, both decide which notices land in front of you.
This guide gives you the full Irish NUTS hierarchy, a county-level lookup table, and the practical mechanics of filtering tenders by region.
What Is a NUTS Code?
NUTS stands for the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. It is a hierarchical geographic classification used across the EU to break each member state into statistical regions.
The system is set in EU law by Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003. The current version, NUTS 2021, was fixed by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1755 and has been in force since 1 January 2021.
In public procurement, the NUTS code marks the place of performance of a contract — the region where the work, supply, or service is delivered. It is not the same as the contracting authority’s address. A Dublin-based department running a roads project in Galway will tag the notice with a West region code, not a Dublin one.
NUTS Codes vs CPV Codes
These two code systems sit side by side on every contract notice, and suppliers routinely confuse them.
| NUTS code | CPV code | |
|---|---|---|
| What it describes | Geography — where the contract is delivered | Subject — what is being bought |
| Example | IE061 (Dublin) | 90910000 (cleaning services) |
| Set by | Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 | Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 |
| Use it to | Filter tenders by region | Filter tenders by product or service |
You use them together. A cleaning contractor in Cork filters on CPV 90910000 and a South-West NUTS code to surface only the cleaning tenders that are actually deliverable from their base. For the product side of that pair, see our guide to CPV codes and the searchable CPV reference.
The Irish NUTS Hierarchy
Ireland has one NUTS1 region (the whole state, IE0), three NUTS2 regions, and eight NUTS3 strategic planning regions. The NUTS3 level is the one used on tender notices.
The three NUTS2 regions:
- IE04 — Northern and Western
- IE05 — Southern
- IE06 — Eastern and Midland
Each NUTS2 region splits into NUTS3 strategic planning regions, and each of those covers a defined set of counties.
Irish NUTS3 Code Lookup Table
This is the full reference. Find your county in the right-hand column to get your NUTS3 and NUTS2 codes.
| NUTS3 code | Region | NUTS2 (region) | Counties covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| IE041 | Border | IE04 (Northern and Western) | Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo |
| IE042 | West | IE04 (Northern and Western) | Galway, Mayo, Roscommon |
| IE051 | Mid-West | IE05 (Southern) | Clare, Limerick, Tipperary |
| IE052 | South-East | IE05 (Southern) | Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford |
| IE053 | South-West | IE05 (Southern) | Cork, Kerry |
| IE061 | Dublin | IE06 (Eastern and Midland) | Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin |
| IE062 | Mid-East | IE06 (Eastern and Midland) | Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wicklow |
| IE063 | Midland | IE06 (Eastern and Midland) | Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath |
| IE0 / IEZZZ | National | — | National contracts; no specific NUTS3 |
Two points trip people up. Wicklow moved from the South-East to the Mid-East region in the 2018 CSO reorganisation, so a Wicklow contract codes as IE062, not IE052. And Dublin is four separate local authorities — Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin — that all roll up to the single IE061 code.
Want to skip the lookup? Our Tenders by Region browser maps every live Irish tender to its NUTS3 region automatically, and each region page lists current open contracts for that area.
How NUTS Codes Appear in TED and eTenders Notices
On TED (ted.europa.eu), the EU’s official procurement journal, the place-of-performance NUTS code is a structured field in every contract notice. Our TED Europa search guide walks through filtering the journal by country, NUTS region, and CPV code.
Under the eForms standard — mandatory for all above-threshold EU notices — the field is BT-5071, Place Performance Country Subdivision. The eForms Regulation requires the NUTS3 level code here whenever it is known. That is why Irish notices carry the five-character IE0xx code rather than a vaguer national one.
In Ireland, above-threshold notices are published under S.I. 284/2016, which transposes Directive 2014/24/EU — see our EU procurement directive guide for how the thresholds and advertising rules work. Those notices flow to TED, while eTenders.gov.ie carries both above- and below-threshold Irish opportunities.
How to Filter Irish Tenders by Region
The point of knowing your NUTS code is to stop reading notices for work you cannot realistically deliver.
On TED: use the advanced search, set the country filter to Ireland, then add your NUTS3 code (or your NUTS2 code to cast wider). Combine it with a CPV code to filter by both place and subject at once. Save the search as an email alert.
On eTenders.gov.ie: region filtering is coarser than TED’s, so most suppliers filter by CPV on eTenders and lean on TED’s NUTS field for the geographic cut.
On TenderWatch: every tender we ingest from TED is resolved to its NUTS3 region, so you can browse by region or by county directly, no codes required.
If you want region-tagged opportunities pushed to you the day they publish, set up free tender alerts and pick your sectors — the digest is filtered to what is relevant to you.
Why Region Matters for Irish Public Buyers
NUTS codes are not just a search convenience. They reflect how parts of the Irish public sector actually buy.
The HSE runs many services through regional structures, so the same service type recurs as separate notices across different NUTS3 regions. The 31 local authorities procure overwhelmingly within their own county, which maps cleanly to a NUTS3 region. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) run both national frameworks (coded IE0) and region-specific works.
Reading the NUTS code on a notice tells you, at a glance, whether a contract is a national framework you would compete for against the whole market, or a regional contract where local presence is an advantage.
Practical Tips for Using NUTS Codes
1. Identify your home NUTS3 code first. Find your county in the lookup table above and note both the NUTS3 (IE0xx) and NUTS2 (IE0x) codes. Most regional bidders will set alerts at the NUTS3 level to keep noise down.
2. Add the NUTS2 code when you can travel. If you can service an entire NUTS2 region, filter at that level (IE04, IE05, or IE06) to widen the funnel without pulling in the whole country.
3. Always include the national code. National frameworks code as IE0 or IEZZZ, not a regional code. If you only filter on your NUTS3 code, you will miss every national framework — and those are often the largest contracts.
4. Pair NUTS with CPV, never use it alone. A region filter on its own returns every sector. Combine your NUTS code with your CPV division so you see only relevant contracts in relevant places. Our Tender Matcher does this pairing automatically from your company profile.
5. Watch the Wicklow and Dublin edge cases. Wicklow is Mid-East (IE062), not South-East. Dublin’s four councils all sit under IE061. Set your filters accordingly or you will silently drop opportunities.
6. Treat the NUTS code as place of performance, not authority location. A national agency can run a contract delivered entirely in one region. Filter on where the work happens, not on where the buyer’s office is.
7. Use region trends as market intelligence. A cluster of notices under one NUTS3 code can signal a regional capital programme ramping up. Tracking publication volume by region is a cheap early-warning system for where public spend is heading.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does NUTS stand for? NUTS stands for the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, the EU’s hierarchical system for dividing member states into statistical regions. It is defined by Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.
How many NUTS codes does Ireland have? Ireland has one NUTS1 region (the whole state), three NUTS2 regions (IE04, IE05, IE06), and eight NUTS3 strategic planning regions (IE041 through IE063). Tender notices use the NUTS3 level.
What is the difference between a NUTS code and a CPV code? A NUTS code identifies where a contract is delivered (geography); a CPV code identifies what is being bought (subject matter). You use them together to filter tenders by both region and product or service.
What NUTS code is Dublin? Dublin is IE061, covering all four Dublin local authorities: Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin. The IE06 NUTS2 region it belongs to is “Eastern and Midland”.
Which NUTS code is Cork? Cork is in IE053, the South-West region, which also covers Kerry. IE053 sits under the IE05 (Southern) NUTS2 region.
Are NUTS codes mandatory on Irish tender notices? For above-threshold notices published on TED under the eForms standard, the place-of-performance field (BT-5071) requires the NUTS3 code where it is known. Below-threshold notices on eTenders.gov.ie may use coarser geography.
Tools and Further Reading
- Tenders by Region — browse live Irish tenders mapped to their NUTS3 region
- Tenders by county — county-level rollups of open contracts
- CPV Codes Explained — the product-side code system that pairs with NUTS
- TED Europa search — how to filter the EU journal by NUTS region and CPV
- Tender Matcher — auto-maps your profile to relevant CPV and region filters
- Free tender alerts — region-filtered notices the day they publish
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