Jack Chambers

The previous Government committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the national development plan, published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2025, €15 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action. An additional €2.25 billion of win…

It is an absolute priority. On the specific items or examples the Deputy has raised, I have met with the chair of the OPW, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, as regards the specific concerns relating to particular projects. In certain instances, members of the public have been extremely concerned, as indeed I think anyone in the political system is, about particular cost overruns. The…

I thank the Deputy and I welcome that. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and I are happy to work with everyone on a constructive basis on the common objective across our respective responsibilities in the Department. I take very seriously the concerns that have been articulated relating to value for money on particular projects, well-documented ones, many of which were unacceptable in terms of …

The Government has committed to review the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service Organisations to consider how the implementation of this approach best delivers public services. My Department will consider the commitments and actions set out in the programme for Government which fall under its remit, including the commitments and actions relating to blended working. The Blended Worki…

The blended working policy framework encourages all individual Civil Service organisations to carry out regular reviews of their own blended working policies in consultation with all stakeholders, including employee representative groups at a local level. The current blended working policy framework for the Civil Service organisations recognises as well that employers require flexibility at a loca…

I respectfully disagree because we have a blended working evaluation model and that is providing significant insights and evidence. It was published by my Department in July last year and is designed to assist organisations in effectively assessing the impact of blended working on the ways people work. The model provides for a mechanism for continuous improvement. This enables organisations to gai…

It is on a public infrastructure Act.

I thank the Deputy. The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the national development plan published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2025, €15 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action. An additional €2.25 …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The purpose of this Bill is to give effect to the decision by the Government to increase the maximum number of Ministers of State from 20 to 23. As the House will be aware, the number has remained unchanged for the last 18 years, since 2007, when Minister of State numbers increased from 17 to 20. The Bill will also allow for the existing allowanc…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions and reiterate our intention to ensure the work of the new Ministers of State achieves the whole-of-government approach we are trying to implement and which is reflected in the programme for Government. This will be achieved by many of the Ministers of State presiding over cross-departmental structures and teams, as in the case of the fisheries and marin…

I will come back on some of the points raised. First, relating to the section, it is obviously being opposed. As I said previously, the purpose of the Bill is to allow for the appointment of 23 Ministers of State. The importance of Ministers of State is not something new. It was already acknowledged in 1924 with the Ministers and Secretaries Act that first provided for the appointment by the Execu…

I thank the Deputy. We are all encountering many constituents in Dublin and across the country who are facing difficulties with rent rises and accessing affordable homes. That is why housing policy is the single biggest issue for the Government and why we want to take further action in the area of housing. I assure the House that the Government is absolutely committed to delivering more homes for …

Let me absolutely clear. We want to protect renters across our country. We also want to increase the number of rental homes that are available for people who want to rent. Central to that proposition is increasing the number of homes built across our country. The unfortunate reality is that the Deputy's housing policy would result in a complete failure of housing supply if it was progressed.

The people have had their say on that. The Deputy's party's approach is not credible. It would abolish all the supports for first-time buyers, put back the work of the Land Development Agency for years and devise a new pseudo-form of home ownership, where someone would own their house-----

-----but not the land it was built on. Let me absolutely clear to the Deputy.

It is important that a new Government with a new mandate assesses housing policy in order that we can increase the supply of both homes that are available to rent and to buy across our country. It is in this way that the Government will take action over the coming months.

I thank the Deputy for her question. To set out the context on housing supply, it has significantly increased since 2020, with 130,000 new homes delivered in that period. Everyone on the Government benches and across the House was disappointed with the final numbers for 2024, which were less than what we expected. However, it is not true to say that we missed our Housing for All targets. The overa…

If the Deputy was really interested in effecting Labour Party policy, she would have stayed longer in the government formation talks.

I knew from all the engagement we had, she was more interested in posturing over there than she was in playing a constructive role in government. We were open to their proposals.

She wanted to set up a State construction company, which would take years. It would take years. Let me be clear: our central objective, in any review of housing policy, will be to increase supply and to unlock and address all of the levers of supply which are open to Government to ensure we can drive affordability for young people and to address the severe housing shortage that is there. We will …

I thank the Deputy for the question. What I said in reply to the other Deputies is that any incoming Government should examine all of the policy options that will achieve the central objective - where I think there is consensus on in this House - how do we increase the overall supply to meet the targets that have been set over a series of years. We are open to constructive feedback and engagement …

As I said previously, my central point on commencement notices is that we have a strong pipeline in place for supply with commencement notices issuing of 60,000 new homes. Feedback suggests that there is unquestionably significantly more work on site than before, aided by the Government's development levy and water connection waivers, and it is not just a matter of if but a matter of when these co…

We will be strengthening the role of the State to increase housing supply and trying to complement that-----

-----by having housing policies that accelerate private investment as well.

I thank all the Deputies for their contributions. In response to Deputy O'Reilly's point, it is an internal matter for the Fine Gael Party-----