Jack Chambers
Dublin West · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“We have been clear about the absolute necessity to protect the huge ecosystem of digital and infrastructure investment in Ireland over the past ten to 20 years. Part of that has been the wider and ongoing discussion on the security of subsea cables.”
“Progress in achieving balanced regional development and detailing the delivery of the NDP is monitored through regular updates on the capital investment tracker and the MyProjectIreland interactive map viewer.”
“The tax strategy group examines the different options that are available to the Government during the summer. That informs the respective tax package that will advance. We have to honest about the measures we take in terms of taxation. They have to be sustainable and affordable in the long term. USC brings in about €5.5 billion per year.”
“I am not privy to the interaction the Deputy had with the Minister for housing on this, but the Local Government Fund distributes the respective funding across different local authorities, and Galway County Council and Galway City Council would receive allocations through that. I was clear in my initial response to Deputy O'Hara.”
“My Department has taken a proactive and co-ordinated approach to supporting the responsible and effective adoption of AI across the public service.”
“More broadly, the achievement of balanced regional development is a key priority of this Government and is at the heart of Project Ireland 2040, which includes the national planning framework, which sets out the wider spatial strategy for the next 20 years, along with the national development plan, NDP.”
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“I also welcome all the students from Inver College. Hopefully they will be inspired by politics and what they see today. Robust exchanges are always important in the political system. I appreciate what the Deputy has raised. I will provide clarity for her. The legislation she referenced was the general scheme of the conclusion of the IBRC special liquidation and dissolution of NAMA Bill 2024, which was published in July last year. The Deputy referenced pre-legislative scrutiny that was ongoing at the joint committee between its members and officials from the Department of Finance. It contained standard statutory provisions modelled on other similar legislation to ensure that when operations of one state entity are transferred to another, the employment rights of staff are preserved.”
“We enter this from a position of strength with strong public finances, strong partners in Europe and a commitment to strengthen our economic model so we can address not only the imposition of tariffs but also the future challenges we know we will face in the years to come.”
“In the coming period, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and I will be publishing a medium-term fiscal plan that will set out what is possible for the long term in line with the work of the Department of Finance, which is updating the various projections we have. That will set out how we can strengthen public services in line with demographics, the wider pressures that we have and the programme for Government priorities. It will set out our approach, which will prioritise protecting jobs, protecting the progress our country has made in recent years and supporting enterprise to drive forward further economic growth in the period ahead.”
“We need to see a move to actually embrace those reports and deepen the single market. We must deepen the integration it can represent and try to reduce red tape and balance regulation across the European system to ensure we support enterprise to try to develop and entrench a better capital markets union. These will be the key areas of focus for boosting Europe's global competitiveness. It is also important that we examine State investment in a much more critical and strategic way. That is why I am also focused on responding, within the overall envelope of €105 billion being spent by the State this year, to the need to demonstrate a continued focus on value when it comes to State investment. I am reviewing the public financial procedures to ensure we strengthen the value-for-money considerations on all current and capital expenditure.”
“Priority will be given to housing, energy, water, transport and health digitalisation to drive competitiveness and economic growth. A review is to be completed by July this year. Alongside this, a new infrastructure division is being established in my Department, with work ongoing to strengthen the expertise, overcome many of the delays and implement a short, focused programme of reform. This will singularly focus on expediting the delivery of key structure, which is taking too long in many cases. Europe is facing a competitiveness challenge that requires fresh ideas to encourage innovation, boost investment and lift productivity, as the Minister, Deputy Donohoe mentioned. We have got lots of recommendations from the Letta and Draghi reports that have now been discussed at length at European level.”
“Enhancing our domestic and international competitiveness must be our priority to support indigenous and foreign direct investment and to remain attractive for anyone who wants to invest from overseas. A key component of this endeavour is investing in our national infrastructure. I received Government approval to undertake a fast-tracked review of the national development plan last week, availing of the additional resources available to the State, including the funds from the European Court of Justice ruling, the share sales proceeds and the infrastructure, climate and nature fund to ensure we can develop more ambitious plans for national infrastructure for the future. This will enable the economic growth that is central.”
“In Ireland and the EU, we value the opportunities, the prosperity and the economic growth that free trade creates. This is why we want to move this situation from the space of significant tit-for-tat and retaliatory measures to one where the EU, the US and, indeed, the broader global economy can have deep and proper meaningful engagement. Negotiation is key. Regardless of what may happen in the coming weeks, we know the rules of the game have changed. Indeed, we know from the Department of Finance and others that the trends of deglobalisation have been embedding themselves across the world economy for many years now. We must, therefore, adopt an approach that will best prepare Ireland and our enterprise economic model for long-term change.”
“We have recorded and continue to record a budgetary surplus and have invested more than €10 billion in our long-term investment funds. These will amount to more than €16 billion by the end of the year. Europe equally approaches this challenge from a position of strength. We have a united block of more than 450 million people representing a strong and prosperous single market that has built and improved prosperity and living standards over so many years. There has already been extensive engagement and dialogue at EU level by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste this week in the context of the participation of the EU trade ministers. We believe the best approach is a careful, considered and graduated response, where we demonstrate Europe's strength and seek to develop a negotiated outcome.”
“As we saw with Covid, Brexit and other severe shocks we have faced and overcome, we need to work to mitigate the risks and take the appropriate actions to best prepare the Irish economy for the medium to long term. However, we approach this challenge from a position of strength. Thanks to responsible and careful management of the economy and our public finances, we are in full employment, with a highly-skilled workforce and continued investment happening right across our economy. Only in the last week, we saw continued investment and job creation. Inflation has been moderated much better than in many of the other European economies, standing at less than 2%, and we are still seeing strong economic growth and modified domestic demand is predicted to grow strongly this year. This is also reflected in the Exchequer returns from quarter 1.”
“As mentioned by the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach, the imposition of tariffs poses a significant risk to our country, society, workers, businesses and economy as a whole. All the Deputies here in the House understand the genuine concern, anxiety and distress all this places on families and people across the communities we represent. This will impact on growth and jobs and on broader inflation and cost pressures across the Irish, EU global economy. Prior to and in the days since President Trump's announcement, much of the work of the Government has been to try to mitigate and best protect the progress we have made in recent years. We have been working closely with EU colleagues to try to put plans in place to mitigate and safeguard jobs, our economy and our society.”
“We will be working with the Attorney General's Office to produce that. We would welcome and value input from the Deputy and all Members of the Oireachtas in ensuring we can update the legislation in the best way possible. That is what my intention is in the role I have been given.”
“That is why it has been set out as a priority in the programme for Government and why, in the first instance, we need to make sure that the policy framework that is developed can be reflected in a general scheme. At that point, we will have pre-legislative scrutiny and cross-party input in the Oireachtas. This is an important matter across the political system in terms of broader engagement. We know that other legislative measures were published previously. These were not advanced. As a result, I want to make sure that we fulfil the intention of the programme for Government and that legislation can be enacted. I am prioritising the particular policy inputs that we have. There are many of these in multiple reports and they need to be acted on in the context of the policy framework which will feed into a general scheme.”
“I want to fulfil the programme for Government commitments and ensure that we update the ethics in public office legislation and utilise the various external and internal reports that are there to underpin that work in the context of the reforms that have to be advanced.”
“The first thing is to take into account the review that has happened and some of the more recent recommendations which have been made, and to have a policy consideration around those. Following that, what is set out in the context of the programme for Government is to give legislative underpinning to that. Once the policy matters have been bottomed out within my Department, which I am engaging on, I will be in position to develop a draft scheme. This will be done in collaboration with the Attorney General. It will then be considered by the Oireachtas process in the context of pre-legislative scrutiny. I will be working on this as a legislative priority. I do not want to give the Deputy a particular date. What I will say is that it is an important priority for me as Minister.”
“I am also conscious of recent further recommendations relating to ethics which will need to be considered in the context of this reform. This is a complex area which requires careful consideration. I intend to look in detail at the outstanding policy issues, including those I have outlined, and to have wider engagement with my officials on the most appropriate way to ensure the programme for Government commitment is fulfilled. My ultimate goal in this is to create a fit-for-purpose, easy to understand and user-friendly legislative ethical framework that contributes to the quality, efficacy and transparency of our system and builds on the strengths of our existing framework.”
“As the Deputy is aware, we committed to updating the ethics in public office legislation in the recent programme for Government. This is on foot of a wide-ranging review the Deputy referred to on the legislative framework for ethics in public office my Department undertook during the last Government, the findings of which were published in February 2023. The report's recommendations include: the legislative framework for ethics should be underpinned by a set of overarching integrity principles; disclosure requirements should be strengthened to improve transparency; and consideration should be given to whether the regime should encompass more officeholders. The report also recommends a strengthening of SIPO.”
“Across the House, all of us want to see investment leading to the project delivery happening in a much quicker and accelerated way. The whole focus of the infrastructure division is to do that centrally so that we try to unblock some of the delays that have been going on for too long.”
“The construction sector group is doing an element of that in the context of construction skills. The Planning and Development Act was obviously discussed, and modern methods of construction as well as other priority areas, which I have referenced, around digital adoption and productivity in the construction sector. However, a separate very serious piece of work is ongoing in the Department on establishing a new infrastructure division. That is all about removing the constraints, barriers, blockages and paralysis that exists in too many elements of the State when it comes to infrastructure delivery and housing supply in our economy. Its central focus will all be on that and how we match the increased level of ambition on capital investment in our economy with a very systematic view taken on all of the delays, which are just unacceptable.”
“A training needs analysis workshop was co-hosted with the Construction Industry Federation. The Build Digital Project was restructured into a thrive-up structure from quarter 2. There has, therefore, been engagement on what the Deputy referred to regarding modern methods of construction and that is a central focus. All this needs to lead to more supply, which is key.”
“The latest meeting of the construction sector group received an update on some of what the Deputy mentioned. This included the proposed research on a pathway to having a 30% embodied carbon reduction in the construction sector, the development of a modern methods of construction data dashboard, which is nearing completion and the collaboration between Dublin City Council, DCC, and the Build Digital Project to progress the building information modelling in DCC. There was also reference to the Department of Education modular builds programme. Construct Innovate workshops are happening across March and April this year to align with that centre's next funding call to members. A call for proposals was also launched by Skillnet Ireland as a way to address the cost of training.”
“The group discussed the following items at the meeting: an update on the work of the construction sector group innovation and digital adoption subgroup, procurement reforms, the Planning and Development Act 2024, construction skills and apprentices and an update on Project Ireland 2040 provided by the National Investment Office. A work programme for the construction sector group in 2025 has been developed by my officials following consultation with industry representatives and it will be formally noted at the next meeting of the group. Over the course of 2025, meetings of the group will focus on the following four priority themes: improving regulation and public procurement, supporting innovation and digital adoption, securing the skills pipeline and communicating the public investment pipeline.”
“The construction sector group was set up in 2018 by my Department. The group ensures regular and open dialogue between government and industry on how best to achieve and maintain a sustainable and innovative construction sector positioned to deliver on the national development plan and Project Ireland 2040. It is made up of representatives of key industry bodies, as well as senior representatives of relevant Departments and agencies with responsibilities for policy and for the delivery of infrastructure. It is chaired by the Secretary General of my Department. The construction sector group currently meets quarterly, with the most recent meeting of the group having taken place on Tuesday, 28 January 2025.”
“The more information we can publish and allow academics and the public interest to interact with it, the better it will be for public policymaking. This needs to sit in parallel with the FOI system itself in respect of how we get better proactive publication across the board.”
“When I was a Minister of State in the Department of Transport, the fragmentation of certain information somewhat inhibited transport research in certain areas where it was necessary to go through a protracted process to extract the information.”
“I am happy to do that. If we look at the existing scheme, the fact that the requests have doubled is a good sign that people are engaging with the broader FOI system. One thing that also needs to be strengthened across public bodies is the work we are doing with the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, on data and digitalisation. A great deal of public information can be published properly and proactively that should be in the public domain without people having to go through an FOI process. That line of work needs to be strengthened across State agencies and Departments to ensure people can access information and do their own independent data analysis of much of the work to strengthen public policy and evidenced-based decision-making. That would help.”
“Turning to the Deputy's point concerning appeals and consistency of decision-making, as I said, there is a low rate of review decisions, at 3%, while 1% are submitted to the Information Commissioner. This has been consistent over many years. I have not seen the report yet so we will see what it recommends.”
“It was prudent that a review took place. It was very open-ended on public consultation and structured stakeholder engagement. There is also the international metric, which is important in that context. It has been established with very strong engagement in the recent period. We want to assess the feedback from the broader political system and, indeed, public interest parties that want to extract information in the interest of transparency, which does help to strengthen evidence-based public policy. It has been a force for good in overall public policy over many years. The spirit in which I will bring forward this review will be very much in that light. It will take into account the feedback we are getting from the public.”
“The review draws on this evidence to inform its findings and recommendations. Broadly speaking, the key strands in the review involve considering potential reforms leading to a more coherent approach to information governance and access, supplementing formal FOI requests and improving the request process. I expect to receive the final report shortly and then intend to bring it to Government for approval in due course. If amending legislation is required on foot of the report, this will be progressed together with some of the recommendations.”
“However, this does not mean that there is no room for improvement. Against this backdrop, a thorough and careful review has been undertaken, assessing the current regime and identifying challenges and opportunities to build on and update the system, aiming to deliver transparency in more effective ways. The review process has been an open and collaborative one, taking in the views of a wide range of stakeholders. It commenced with a scoping process that sought the views of stakeholders across all sectors in setting the direction of the review and included a customer satisfaction survey as well as a full public consultation. This was supplemented by engagement with all the key stakeholders and accompanied by a review of international approaches to FOI seeking to identify best practices and innovations globally.”
“A comprehensive review of the FOI regime has been undertaken and is nearing completion. The review was undertaken in the context of a system that appeared to be operating well on its own terms. Since the introduction of the updated legislation in 2014, there has been a large expansion in FOI usage. The number of organisations covered by the legislation has increased significantly and the number of requests received annually has almost doubled. Approximately four out of every five requests decided upon are granted. Reviews are available where requesters are dissatisfied with the outcome of their requests. However, these are availed of in approximately 3% of cases annually, while an independent review by the Information Commissioner is sought in slightly over 1% of cases. Key indicators remain consistent from year to year.”
“However, the Deputy's narrative does not give any balance in respect of delivery and things that are happening in the context of the envelope we have given to capital expenditure. It is fair that we should give more balance regarding the public servants who are trying to deliver value for money-----”
“-----which is an important public good. You have to balance that against many public servants working in our transport system who want to ensure we advance a major capital project. There are issues with the systems around timelines, sequencing and the delays that happen in public projects, especially those relating to the planning system and the decision-making that happens in that regard. There is general frustration with that. In the infrastructure division we are establishing, we are providing much greater oversight so that we drive the acceleration and delivery of projects that have been outlined in plans for many years. People want to see the outworking and the completion of those projects. I want to address the value for money concerns that are in the public domain.”
“I acknowledge that there is public concern about value for money on certain projects. I do not reject that as an issue. I will bring forward a memorandum to the Government in the coming weeks on value for money and it being a central consideration across the Government's frameworks. It is something I want to continue to assess in the context of the overall budgetary envelope we have.”
“I reject the Deputy's assertion that it is not a consideration; it categorically is. That is why we have put in place many of the governance frameworks around the major projects' advisory group. This has significant external evaluation and assurance processes and addresses the need for value for money in all elements of the infrastructure guidelines, which are published. That is set out across a number of the frameworks that are submitted to Departments. The Deputy referenced Farmleigh. A large number of visitors attend Farmleigh, which the Deputy will be aware of. Many of them are from in his constituency. I was there at the weekend when local artists availed of one of the facilities to showcase their local art. It is used for many cultural and other activities, which the Deputy recognised. A large number of visitors use it.”
“The management and delivery of these must be done in the context of the allocation and the national frameworks, which is a key responsibility of each Department and Minister. As part of the capital appraisal process for projects under the infrastructure guidelines, projects' sponsoring agents are asked to critically consider the schedule and cost implications of those projects, which is further developed as a project progresses through the approval gates and more information becomes available, for example, when a project moves from the preliminary phase to final business case before the awarding of a contract. This includes detailed financial and economic appraisal, sensitivity analysis, accounting for behavioural influences such as optimism bias as well as consideration of appropriate levels of contingency.”
“The Accounting Officers must decide whether the processes in place in their Departments, offices or bodies are appropriate to ensure compliance with the infrastructure guidelines; the management of capital budgets overall; and the management of budgets at an individual project level. In terms of its capital allocation, my Department has not had significant direct overruns. We have a responsibility for overall oversight and we are responsible for the infrastructure guidelines that replaced the public spending code and were published in December 2023, with an effective date of 1 January 2024. These set out value for money guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects.”
“Securing value for money is a central priority for this Government and is at the heart of all decision making at every stage of a policy, project or programme's life cycle, and it should be. Delivering value for money is about securing the efficient and effective use of public resources in the pursuit of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland. Achieving value for money is the responsibility of each Minister and Department spending public funds. The Accounting Officers of those Departments and offices are accountable to the Comptroller and Auditor General and their respective Oireachtas committees for that spending. Accounting Officers must ensure that capital projects for which they have statutory responsibility are managed and delivered effectively.”
“The decision against increasing the State pension age was the right one in that instance. We want to make sure that the overall State pension system is sustainable and manageable in the context of the other priorities we have.”
“I appreciate the feedback the Deputy has received. I regularly engage with all the uniformed members myself. I again acknowledge the work they do. The context of the 2013 scheme when it was introduced meant that it was the largest reform of public service occupational pension schemes in the history of the State. That was to try to put them on a sustainable footing by acknowledging the demographic changes taking place and the actuarial analysis and liability that those changes reflect. That is the context in which this has been managed. The previous Government made decisions relating to the State pension age, as it was important to give certainty to many members of the public. There was a huge campaign in 2020, which we responded to. That was the right decision. All of these decisions have a broader context that we have to acknowledge.”
“The wider context, which the Deputy can appreciate, is to try to have some sustainability in the overall pension system, which has been well flagged by many external and independent experts. We all engage with many uniformed service members of the State who do an incredible job on the front line. However, we are trying to get the balance in the context of what represents a longer term risk. We see the actuarial analysis around that in terms of the total pension liability the State has.”
“I will finish by giving some further context. We brought forward the increased mandatory retirement age for those who choose to avail of it. The legislative change also allows uniformed members of the single scheme to continue accruing referrable amounts towards their occupational pensions for the additional years now worked. These members will continue accruing pension benefits on a fast-accrual basis up to the age of 60. Another issue that is occasionally raised by the single scheme uniformed members is access to a supplementary pension, which exists in pre-existing public service pension schemes. However, supplementary pensions have never been a feature of the single scheme, nor is it envisaged that they will be.”
“The legislation allows for an increase in the mandatory retirement age for uniformed staff to 62 years for those who choose to avail of it and applies to single scheme and pre-existing public service pension schemes. I will get back to the Deputy on the rest of it.”
“While members of the Defence Forces and other uniformed accrual members have mandatory retirement ages lower than the State pension contributory retirement age, they are still able to work in other employment in the intervening period while fully accessing their single-scheme pension benefits, subject to abatement, where applicable, if in the public service. In 2024, in recognition of changing demographics and a desire for each member of the fast-accrual category to continue working for longer, the Government enacted Part 11 of the Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2024. This allowed work to be done by officials in my Department and those in other Departments.”
“The uniformed grades have certain enhanced benefits that other members of the single scheme do not have in recognition of their earlier retirement age, such as early payment of scheme benefits. This enables them to accrue more single scheme benefits over expected shorter public service careers in these roles. Once members of the uniformed accrual cohort reach their normal retirement age as provided for in section 26 of the 2012 Act, they can retire at that age and receive their occupational retirement benefits accrued at a higher rate, including their retirement lump-sum and pension benefit payments. These benefit payments are separate from, and in addition to, any future entitlement that they may have to the State contributory pension, which is administered by the Department of Social Protection.”
“The single public service pension scheme is a statutory public service career-average defined benefit pension scheme, established on 1 January 2013 under the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012. The single scheme was established to place publicly funded retirement benefits on a more sustainable footing in the context of longer life expectancies. All new entrants to the public service hired after 1 January 2013 are members of this single scheme. Members of the Permanent Defence Force, firefighters, members of An Garda Síochána and prison officers are categorised as members of the uniformed accrual cohort of single scheme members.”
“We will engage with parties across the House in making sure that it is a fit-for-purpose public governance framework that updates the ethics legislation appropriately and in line with best practice.”
“I thank the Deputy. Through this legislative reform, we want to have an effective updated standards framework. Such a framework is integral to the quality and efficacy of public governance in our State. It needs to be future-proofed in that context. The regulation of conflicts of interest is obviously central to building trust in public institutions and in the objectivity of public service decision-making. We have the review that was carried out, the previous legislative proposal and other reports. These will all will inform the broader evidence-based context for how we try to draft this proposal. My focus is to fulfil the programme for Government commitment. When we manage to formalise a particular draft or heads, we will engage through the Oireachtas process in terms of pre-legislative scrutiny.”
“We will prioritise the drafting of a Bill when we have agreed a legislative framework around it. I want to fulfil the programme for Government commitment and advance the legislation.”
“In the context of the engagement with the Government Chief Whip and the Attorney General on the legislative programme, that is obviously legislation my Department has responsibility for. We have said we are going to engage in a review. Deputy Howlin was an excellent Member of this House. He did an excellent job in the role I am in. He brought forward the Bill in question, which has not made its way through this House. That is why we are undertaking a review of the statutory framework which the former Minister, Deputy McGrath, advanced. What we are doing is trying to draft that legislative framework in the context of the legislative programme. We will then fulfil the programme for Government commitment. When I have further information about what is possible in terms of a timeline, I will provide it to the House. The review is ongoing.”
“I am conscious of recent further recommendations in relation to ethics that will also need to be considered in the context of this reform. This is an area that is complex and that requires careful consideration. I intend to look in detail at the outstanding policy issues, including those I have outlined, and to try to find an appropriate way forward to fulfil the programme for Government commitment. My ultimate goal is to create a fit-for-purpose, easy-to-understand and user-friendly ethical framework that contributes to the quality, efficacy and transparency of our system and builds on the strengths of our existing framework.”