As the Deputy is aware, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 is Ireland's national whistleblower protection law. Significant amendments to the Act were signed into law in July 2022. The amended Act gives effect to EU Directive 2019/1937 and provides for the establishment of the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner within the Ombudsman's office.
As Minister, I am obligated to commence a statutory review of …
TDs / Jack Chambers
Jack Chambers
Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
152,394
words spoken in the chamber
146,472 as a minister, 5,922 as a TD
358
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 720 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 57 |
| March 2025 | 2 |
| April 2025 | 36 |
| May 2025 | 52 |
| June 2025 | 2 |
| July 2025 | 90 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 0 |
| October 2025 | 11 |
| November 2025 | 109 |
| December 2025 | 69 |
| January 2026 | 1 |
| February 2026 | 44 |
| March 2026 | 0 |
| April 2026 | 37 |
| May 2026 | 44 |
| June 2026 | 1 |
| July 2026 | 60 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 80 |
| October 2026 | 25 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 658 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform 23 January 2025 to 4 June 2025
- office Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation 5 June 2025 to now
I have had limited engagement on this matter with counterparts at an EU level. The directive has been transposed. Our Presidency in 2026 will allow opportunities for engagement on it. In the context of the review that will be happening in parallel, there will be a greater opportunity to take wider European feedback on this issue. We transposed the directive and legislation was enacted in 2022. Ultimately, I want to m…
I will, of course, listen to and engage with whistleblowers. The review is really important, which is why we are bringing it forward from 2027 to 2026 to ensure we have broad feedback. They system I want to see operating is one that works for whistleblowers. As I said, we will be able to advance that next year.
The independent review panel on senior public service recruitment and pay determination processes was established in March 2022 and its report was published in June 2023. It found that pay determination of senior posts should consider best practice in terms of openness, transparency, accountability and the need for an objective evidence-based methodology.
To this end, it recommended that an independent body be estab…
On a wider point, the budgets we implemented this year and in recent years are progressive. That is reflected in the SWITCH model the ESRI has around low-income deciles. The two lowest income deciles have been where the concentration of supports has been in terms of our response from a social protection perspective and the changes around income tax I made as Minister for Finance.
We received recommendations from the…
The Deputy saw the recent budget and the intervention we made around child poverty. It was a significant intervention on child poverty, the biggest in years. That was the child support payment and it was done with the engagement of the sector. We want to address the issues with child poverty in our country.
The facts are clear about the €300 million-plus expenditure on child poverty measures next year to try to narr…
Ultimately, we want utilities that have strong leadership and that are matched with the market median so we build an economy and State which can address child poverty and give people the support they require.
Last week, the Government published the accelerating infrastructure report and action plan. It is a comprehensive programme of actions designed to speed up the delivery of critical infrastructure across the State. This action plan responds to well-documented challenges of lengthy development timelines, fragmented processes and rising costs. These have all been identified as major barriers to achieving Ireland’s housi…
I appreciate the Deputy's advocacy for the Navan rail line. We have been there and have had extensive engagement with the Deputy's constituency on it.
The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has published the transport sectoral plan, which sets out the funding allocations for the next five years. He is keen to advance a lot of the ambition we have in the regions on rail infrastructure in particular. We have an allocat…
The Single Public Service Pension Scheme is a statutory public service career-average defined benefit pension scheme. It was established under the public service pensions Act 2012. The provisions of the scheme are clearly set out in law. All new-entrant public servants hired after 1 January 2013 are members of the single scheme. The introduction of the scheme is instrumental in ensuring the sustainability of public s…
The Single Public Service Pension Scheme, introduced in 2013, was one of the biggest ever pension reforms. Part of what we are trying to do is ensure we have sustainability of pension provision and can pay for this over the longer term. The work that has been undertaken to increase the mandatory retirement age for uniformed staff also helps in the context of workforce planning and to give certainty to uniformed staff…
The increase in the mandatory retirement age helps and makes a difference. It is part of what we are trying to do. It improves the overall end pension in terms of referrable amounts towards the single scheme pension. Another issue raised during the engagement with workers was that of basic pay and conditions, which we engage on in the context of the respective pay agreements. There is well-documented evidence on the …
The gross Exchequer estimated pay bill for Ireland's public service is €30.4 billion for 2026. In terms of staffing, forecast numbers in 2026 are just under 439,400 full-time equivalent public servants. This is the highest ever level of employment in the public service. Overall, the pay bill is a function of public service numbers and the costs associated with public service pay agreements. The current agreement, Pub…
Such an exercise constitutes a complex and substantial analytical undertaking requiring access to detailed, contemporaneous micro-level data on the pay structures and pensions of both current and former employees in order to accurately assess the full costs. It also involves a range of assumptions in relation to the pay and pensions policy implications. My Department does not have access to the required level of deta…
That is why I stated that to give an accurate picture would require a detailed analytical assessment. Pay and pension provisions are subject to different arrangements across different grades, pay scales, premium payments and superannuation payments. In the context of the Deputy's question, we have not been able to put a number beside the information he has requested. That would be an important consideration.
As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets out overall expenditure ceilings for each ministerial Vote group. These are laid out at Vote level in the budget day expenditure report published in October, with further detail provided in the Revised Estimates for Public Services published in December. Following the allocation of each ministerial expenditure ceiling, it is a matter for each Minister to …
I am familiar with those elements of the west of Ireland, in Galway, Mayo and elsewhere. The west is being prioritised in many of the projects set out in the sectoral investment plans. There is the social and affordable housing delivery we want to ramp up in the context of the housing sectoral plan that the Minister, Deputy Browne, has published. The transport sectoral plan will significantly enhance public transport…
On the latter point, I am following up on that with Irish Water in the context of wastewater treatment plants. There has been a funding increase. I can get a specific answer to the question for the Deputy. I am aware of the importance of the issue to local towns and villages in County Galway.
To the other point on resilience of critical infrastructure, a recent Cabinet committee meeting focused on the learnings from…
I thank Deputy McCormack for his question. Last week, the Government published the accelerating infrastructure report and action plan. This is a comprehensive programme of actions designed to speed up the delivery of critical infrastructure across the State. This action plan responds to well-documented challenges of lengthy development timelines, fragmented processes and rising costs. These have all been identified a…
We are keen to ensure all infrastructure in the State, including in County Offaly, is accelerated. At present, it takes 15 years to build a road and it can take up to ten years to deliver wastewater and water infrastructure and seven or eight years for electricity or energy infrastructure. These timelines are all too long to meet the growing demands of our population and economy.
As regards the eastern midlands wate…
To respond first to Deputy McCormack, again, the whole focus is on driving delivery. I take his point on the role of that particular project in the east and midlands. We will engage with Irish Water on it. Obviously, we do not want to delay the current design, which could possibly hold back the project by a number of years. There is a need to accelerate its delivery because it is a critical project for the State.
To…
The accelerating infrastructure report and action plan includes targeted reforms to certain types of developer-led infrastructure as set out under action 15. This action recognises that alongside record public investment under the national development plan, private sector delivery models may play a complementary role in certain circumstances. Specifically under action 15, the Government has committed to progressing r…
The Deputy will have heard from the Minister, Deputy Browne, about wastewater treatment plants and the work on advancing that, which will be critical to improving overall housing supply. It will not be solely Irish Water but it will be something that will enhance wider water infrastructure across the State. Similarly, there is the work the Minister, Darragh O'Brien, is doing in respect of private wires, again ensurin…
I appreciate the Deputy's remarks. We can make a serious impact next year in terms of the legal reforms, the regulatory reforms, and the co-ordination and delivery changes we are making while also making the case for greater public acceptance of infrastructure across the State, in particular across those critical areas of water, energy and transport. Part of that is reflected in the questions the Deputy has asked in …
In the first instance, this video and the information campaign are not a direct Department of housing campaign. As the Deputy said himself, it is something that has been developed by SpunOut, Ireland's youth information and support platform, and the Housing Agency, who ran this campaign. It was developed by young people and it is based on their experiences.
Like all of us in this House, I recognise the need to do ev…