Jack Chambers

The National Shared Services Office, NSSO, a body under the aegis of the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, provides HR, pension, payroll and finance shared services to Government Departments and offices. As part of its remit, it transacts HR, payroll, pension and finance administration for public and civil servants on behalf of 54 client pu…

As the Deputy knows, given its remit, the wider work of the NSSO is done independently of me. I am not aware of who the current or former Ministers are. The NSSO is trying to progress the remaining number. They all should and must enter into a repayment plan. The NSSO said that the latest correspondence has issued this month. There needs to be full repayment, and I have said that consistently. All…

The total number of individuals was 82, which included current and former Ministers of State, officeholders and a small number of civil servants. Some 17% of that is what remains. We know that the cohort relating to current Ministers has been accounted for. I do not have the specifics. What I have been told is that the aggregate miscalculation was €359,000, and that 17%, or €62,000, remains. The v…

The programme for Government commits to updating the ethics in public office legislation. I assure the Deputy that this remains a priority. I have updated Government colleagues this week with a memorandum for information on the progress that is being made. However, as the Deputy is aware, this is a complex area and careful consideration is required across a range of issues before detailed proposal…

The purpose of bringing a memorandum to Government was to update colleagues on the progress being made around the policy context here. What we are seeking to do, rather than just adding additional legislative provisions, which obviously will be advanced through a general scheme, is to ensure that we digitalise and simplify the process of making a return and that has to be future proofed around par…

It is important to ensure we future proof the legislative provisions or a general scheme. Even in the past year or two there has been a change of context. If we look back at the experience with the 2015 public sector standards Bill, it did not progress and it lapsed. It is important to ensure that any legislation or scheme we introduce is progressed and enacted. There is no reopening of it, to be …

As Minister for public expenditure, I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level. As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets 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 …

I thank the Deputy for the question. I met with some of the management team for the development board with our by-election candidate, Councillor Cillian Keane, Deputy John Connolly and Senator Ollie Crowe in recent weeks. I fully appreciate the need for improved bed capacity for the west of Ireland and for Galway. It is absolutely required, which is why the Government and the Minister for Health, …

It absolutely needs to progress quickly. Part of that is to do with ensuring that the HSE is efficient in how it turns around the design proposals. We must also look at how we get it into the planning process and turned around quickly. In what we set out in the infrastructure reforms, part of the improvement to accelerate infrastructure may involve designation for any project. The other elements a…

I propose to take Question Nos. 10, 53, 55 and 61 together. As Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitisation, I am responsible for setting the overall expenditure allocations and monitoring it at Departmental level. In the programme for Government, there is a clear prioritisation of the NDP review to ensure that investment for strategic infrastructure can…

A practical example is the wastewater treatment plant in respect of which 26 weeks have been saved due to the removal of the external assurance process and reviews, as well as changes to the thresholds that I introduced in reforms to the infrastructure guidelines. The latter was an additional step that added time. Under the wider assessment carried out last year, we had to measure the time it had …

I know the matter of Irish Water and its engagement with public representatives has been raised a number of times. Irish Water is on the infrastructure task force, and I will take the Deputy's comments away as a need to strengthen engagement. The challenge last year was a funding one. There had been consistent issues and concerns within both the construction sector, which works in partnership with…

The latest fiscal monitor, published on 6 May, showed that at the end of April gross voted expenditure amounted to €36 billion. This is a €2.9 billion, or 8.9%, increase compared with April 2025 and reflects the implementation of the priorities set out in budget 2026 and the significant uplift in expenditure to support programme for Government commitments. Compared with the profiles set out by Dep…

I will come back with a supplementary answer.

Obviously, that was and is an important fiscal intervention to respond to the energy spike we have seen, particularly with respect to the transport and the agriculture sectors. We are following the wider guidance we see from the IMF and others, that is, that schemes should be temporary, targeted and time bound in order that they do not involve permanent expenditure implications. We have said consi…

As the Deputy knows, in the annual progress report that is published, we expect to run a general government surplus of about €9 billion this year. We are running a surplus, which makes the case for the importance of having fiscal buffers in a world which is so uncertain in the context of geopolitical conflict and when we have spending demands every day in this House across multiple areas. It is im…

I thank Deputy Dolan. I am committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in public expenditure, including in relation to the publication of purchase orders over €20,000. In this context, my Department has an effective process in place to produce the quarterly purchase order report in a timely manner. The publication of purchase order data over €20,000 stems from a commitment in the progra…

I thank the Deputy. I commend all his work and policy proposals in this area. I think we can all agree that enhancing transparency is absolutely a desirable objective. I am open to examining how additional information can be provided in a meaningful way to achieve that. In terms of wider moves towards standardisation, part of what my officials are now examining is what the various systems and oper…

Absolutely. As I said, it is something I have asked my own officials to strengthen in the context of particular procurement processes to see what the outputs and outturns are and the transparency connected right through that. Part of delivering across that objective will be set out in a new national procurement strategy on how we can strengthen transparency and trust but also then improve competit…

I thank Deputy Cooney. Allowing the Government to designate certain projects or programmes as critical infrastructure is the core of the Critical Infrastructure Bill. By establishing a clear legal basis for prioritisation, the legislation will reduce ambiguity and ensure that critical projects and programmes receive focused and co-ordinated attention across Departments, regulators and agencies. It…

First of all, we have not yet commenced the process of assessing what will or will not be designated, and when we designate a particular project, when it can be fast-tracked. For example, if something is at a very early stage, it does not necessarily benefit from particular designation. Second, we are prioritising water and wastewater systems because they are critical to housing delivery in villa…

To be factual about it, we have not decided designation on any project in any area up to now. We are going to conclude the legislation, which passed this House and will pass in the Seanad in June. I am familiar with parts of the Deputy's county and indeed across the west of Ireland, the midlands and elsewhere, where people have been waiting on wastewater treatment plants for far too long. There is…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 69 together. We agreed a medium-term fiscal and structural plan in December of last year that provides for significant uplifts and expenditure over the coming years with gross voted spending to reach €147.3 billion by 2030. The key element of the expenditure strategy underpinning the gross voted expenditure ceilings included in the plan was the prioritisatio…

I welcome all the people from Achill who are here and I hope they have a very good day. Both my parents from County Mayo so I always welcome everyone from that great county. We will not talk about the All-Ireland but we are still waiting-----

We will see how it gets on at the weekend. I understand the issue around the arts complex. There was extensive engagement between Dublin City Council, the Arts Council and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. We have significantly increased the capital allocation to the Department in recent years, which has to manage its overall location in that context. Part of that relates to the…