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.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,309 lines we hold for Jack Chambers, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 9 of 27.
“On the latter point, I support more autonomy, as we have discussed at the infrastructure committee, and cutting out some of the process. If there are any suggestions from the Deputy's local authority as to how we can improve the turnaround time for decisions, I am more than open to hearing them. An overall assessment of the storm damage done to roads is taking place. We will obviously have to examine what that assessment finds and consider it in the context of the additionality that might be required. There already is contingency given to local authorities in their core budgets in this regard. Some of the immediate work might involve temporarily remedying damage to roads. It might be next year before issues relating to the damage done by the storms will be fully rectified.”
“-----additional funding from the overall contingency for road infrastructure that has been badly damaged. Obviously, councils have to be supported in remedying that damage. I will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to come back to the Deputy on the annualised figures. I do not have them here.”
“-----of €24 billion over the next five years. He has also sought to reprofile some of that funding towards investment in local, regional and national roads in order that we can build out our road network further. There is contingency in some of the funding allocations to ensure that some of the issues relating to storm damage will also be addressed. We are trying to have a wider assessment of recent storm damage in the context of potentially providing-----”
“If the Deputy has a particular question, both the Revenue Commissioners and the tax division of the Department of Finance can clarify any interpretation of general policy. Individual taxpayer information is a matter of either personal or corporate confidentiality. It is important that we uphold that principle.”
“I do not have the individual taxpayer information, nor should I comment on any company's individual tax information in the Houses of Oireachtas. We have very clear legislation that sets out the tax arrangements for corporations, businesses and individuals.”
“That work is ongoing in advance of budget 2027. The Government is committed across all areas, including employment overall, the education sector and the Department of disability, on strengthening services and income supports over the period ahead.”
“The Deputy will know that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has set up a consultation process on a cost-of-disability payment and how that would be structured. We have not had a permanent payment of that sort in the past. We are trying to structure it in the context of negotiations for next year's budget. However, it is not only about direct income support; it is also about improved services. That is why there was a 20% increase in terms of disability service, which the Minister, Deputy Foley, secured. There was increased resourcing for the Department of education. Social protection payments increased significantly as well. Those payments would support some individuals with disabilities. We are clear on working with the disability stakeholders on designing a permanent annual cost-of-disability support payment.”
“There are two primary ways in which we are trying to accelerate the development of water infrastructure. The first is to fully fund Irish Water over the next five years by providing it with €12 billion. This is a record level of investment to unlock and deliver a lot of the wastewater treatment plants that have been on lists for too many years. The second way is to cut a lot of the process out of Irish Water's delivery system prior to construction, which we are doing, and out of many of the infrastructure reforms we are advancing. The Deputy raised this with me at the infrastructure committee. I wrote to the committee in recent days, but I do not know if it has received my letter. The letter makes specific reference to Clarinbridge, a matter to which the Deputy has referred previously.”
“I regret that the 50 students have not had their school transport provided for despite sanction to do so. This is a performance and management issue between the Department of education with Bus Éireann and whoever the particular operator is. I will ask the Minister for education to engage on that matter. Where a service has been provided for, it should be delivered. I do not know the background as to why that has not happened for the students the Deputy referenced. I will ask the Department of education to follow up on that in the context of providing the particular service for the children involved.”
“I acknowledge the contribution so many members of our health system made during Covid. The special scheme for long Covid which was established in July 2022 and extended on a number of occasions. As the Deputy knows, this entered into a Labour Court process which the Government accepted at the time. Following several extensions, the final extension in June last year meant the scheme concluded on 31 December 2025. It does not mean supports will end. Staff who remain unfit to work will move into the public service sick leave scheme. That provides for payment of 92 calendar days on full pay in a rolling one-year period followed by 91 calendar days on half pay. There is significant protection through the public service sick leave scheme. The Government accepted the recommendation of the Labour Court.”
“We are clear that we want to advance a significant number of projects across the maternity system in the capital plan over the next number of years.”
“What I agreed with the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, was that there would be record capital funding for healthcare overall over the next five years. That is to underpin significant investment and development for women's' health, maternity healthcare and much more across the system. I am sure the Deputy is referencing the HSE capital plan. I do not have the specific feedback relating to University Hospital Kerry but we want to modernise our health infrastructure. A clear part of that relates to maternity care. The Minister for Health can perhaps come back to the Deputy on that particular capital project. I do not have the detail about why it might not have received the level of funding the Deputy expects for 2026.”
“I acknowledge for particular individuals there is a high threshold or bar for the primary medical certifcate. It can be extraordinarily difficult. I think we all, as constituency TDs, deal with that frequently. I will ask the Minister for Health to respond to the Deputy on the feedback he has given and any changes that will come of it. It is important to have a framework and parameters. I know that can create difficulties for particular individuals but I will ask her to engage and reflect the feedback.”
“We will ask for strengthened oversight from the National Transport Authority and the Department of Transport relating to that issue.”
“I appreciate the huge frustration in the Cork community with this commuter service. People should expect, with a properly funded service, that it is punctual, reliable and frequent. The National Transport Authority has clear oversight responsibilities for bus operators to ensure that happens. There are various penalties and fines that can be imposed if a particular service does not run properly. I will ask our colleague, the Minister for Transport, to engage with Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority to ensure the repeated issues the Deputy referenced are dealt with. We are funding our transport system at a record level but performance is critical. As the Deputy said, it is not necessarily a budgetary issue; it is an issue of performance.”
“I do not have the facts or background on the particular matter relating to forensic psychiatrists but I will ask the Taoiseach and his office to respond comprehensively to the Deputy. I know he raised the importance of this matter and the comments of the judge in the past month with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, in the context of forensic psychiatry. There is a Department of justice context as well. I will ask them to respond comprehensively to the Deputy.”
“I have seen some of the reporting on this online and it is shocking what that particular student experienced. UCD or, indeed, any third level institution should work with a student who has undergone shocking circumstances. Any third level institution or education institution should be working in a way that allows such a student to finish her studies, in a way that would reflect all of our institutions in second or third level. I would call on UCD to work with the student to allow her to complete her studies. She has gone through enough. I was shocked, as indeed everyone in this House has been, about what she has been subjected to in the recent period. It is incumbent on every public institution to work with her, so she can complete her studies. She has gone through enough.”
“The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is advancing significant investment into our energy system and grid. We have the PR6, price review 6, which will allow for multi-billion investment into the grid and into our energy system over the next five years, all of which will help our wider renewable energy ambitions. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will be bringing forth further actions around energy affordability.”
“The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is advancing the work of the energy affordability task force. We are engaging on it regularly at Cabinet committee level. Separately, the pricing system in the energy market is defined by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. The pricing is not set by Government. We also need to ensure we protect overall economic investment into the country. Digital infrastructure will play a role in terms of job creation and overall employment growth for Ireland into the medium to long term. We need to have an honest conversation about that. Just attacking data centres and digital infrastructure would undermine our wider economic growth into the long term. The facts are that the pricing system is decided independent of Government.”
“The Government has set out very clear priorities in terms of the reform of the triple lock legislation, which is central to the world as it has been changing in political and geopolitical contexts. We have been very clear that we are absolutely militarily neutral but we are not----”
“Over the last number of weeks, we have brought different memorandums to the Government in respect of various reforms to infrastructure delivery, such as the National Development Finance Agency, the reforms to the infrastructure guidelines and the conclusion of the sectoral investment plans, all of which aim to build momentum in terms of infrastructure delivery in the economy. We will work on the critical pieces, ensuring the continued work on the critical infrastructure Bill advances. The intention is to bring the scheme to Government in March, which is a really important piece on providing legislative backing for the acceleration of infrastructure in the State. That is on track as well.”
“We engage daily with the infrastructure team in the Department and the infrastructure division. According to the latest update, everything has been delivered in quarter 4 and we are on track with respect to the actions set for quarter 1 of this year. We are working in parallel to ensure steps or actions that are required in quarters 2 and 3 are being worked on as well if they have timelines in the middle of the year or later on in this year. Right now, there is progress across the respective areas.”
“Some take months longer than that, while others take a little less time. This was a duplicate step and the advice I received was that the value proposition involved is questionable in terms of the time that it took. That is being removed entirely, in part to try to simplify the wider delivery process.”
“The Minister sets the direction post the preliminary business case which justifies why a project is needed following economic appraisal and assessment. The final decision of a Minister is post the tendering process where the tenders received align with the objectives set out in a preliminary business case. The critical involvement of a Minister is in those two areas. This median step only added time. If a Minister gives a direction at the preliminary business case, the outworking of that is to see the outcome of a tender and whether it meets the value requirements and the delivery that is set out in terms of the respective project. The biggest time saving from the changes I am making in the infrastructure guidelines is on the removal of the external assurance gate. The average time taken on that is about 20 weeks.”
“We are essentially reducing the number of approval steps from three to two. The critical approval role of a Minister is after the preliminary business case. It is about putting discipline on how a preliminary business case is designed. In many instances, the administrative timelines taken for preliminary business cases are far too excessive. We are trying to put much greater discipline on that in terms of the wider project design and how a preliminary business case is built up. Even though political direction may have been given after the preliminary business case, there was an interim approval step which varied across Departments. Again, this will just simplify what is required in terms of the approval stop process.”
“This sets out the wider delivery of increased labour force with the capital investment programme that we have. At this point, we have delivered what we said we would in quarter 4 of last year and we are working on continuing to build momentum in quarter 1 and beyond this year.”
“My Department is also engaging with bodies to map structures and identify the key specific administrative constraints to effective co-ordination and delivery. There is also work ongoing on revised structures within the construction sector group to advise on actions detailed in the December report on how we can improve further productivity and innovation within the construction sector. The Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, and I will be advancing procurement reforms to further enhance the attractiveness of public sector construction. My colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Lawless, and his Department have published and are working on a critical skills needs assessment for the construction sector.”
“A meeting of this group took place on 21 January. As committed under action 23, reforms to the infrastructure guidelines were brought by me to the Government for approval this week. These key reforms relate to higher thresholds for major projects, the discontinuation of the external assurance process and the reduced approval requirements prior to issue to try to simplify the approval steps. The Government has also approved an enhanced role for the National Development Finance Agency to support infrastructure delivery and key Exchequer funded projects. A circular outlining how Departments may avail of this support will be published. There has been a meeting of the joint utilities and transport clearing house which is continuing in quarter 1, 2026.”
“We have the heads of Bill being brought to put the judicial review process on a statutory footing by my colleague, the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, in January. At this point, good progress is noted for actions required for delivery in quarter 1. Some of the progress areas include the following. The public consultation process on proposed scale of fees closed on 15 January 2026. Work on the critical infrastructure Bill is progressing in terms of drafting and input by the Attorney General, which is happening on a weekly basis. The publication of a general scheme in March has been confirmed in the Government's published priority legislative agenda. A high-level group on EU policy and the European co-ordinators network has been used to monitor legislation and regulations that may impact on infrastructure delivery.”
“We have also had a wider step-change in investment in the water, transport energy and sectors. The sectoral plans detail over 200 specific projects that are being prioritised, with a particular focus on projects going to tender and construction in 2026 and 2027. This is with the specific aim of providing construction sector certainty on the pipeline. Government consultation on the scale of fees for environmental judicial reviews is being led by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment which will, in effect, limit the cost that the State pays in environmental judicial reviews. The first meeting has been held of the new joint utilities and transport clearing house, which will ensure a shared understanding and better co-ordination between the utilities and transport sectors on infrastructure delivery.”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 28, 61, 77 and 83 together. My Department will be managing the monitoring and reporting on delivery of the actions in the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, which will be led within the infrastructure division. The action plan details 30 headline actions for delivery by quarter and sets target outputs and outcomes to be achieved. All lead Departments have continued to engage over recent weeks and days to provide an update on what is meant to be delivered for quarter 4, 2025 and quarter 1, 2026 and the important structural changes within their sectors to aid the delivery of the 30 actions. All actions required for delivery in 2025 have been completed. Some of the key deliverables include the publication of the NDP review 2025 and the subsequent publication of all sectoral plans.”
“With some of the projects that are in the planning process, the wider risk when they leave it is that licensing and consents are sometimes required. We are reforming that area so we can deliver some of them in parallel. The risk of judicial review also hangs over a lot of projects. The reforms we will advance this year in the context of judicial reviews are to try to deal with that issue. One of the major issues when a project receives permission is whether it can actually start it if there is a threat of judicial review. My colleagues and I are also advancing that reform.”
“We have taken every step in the infrastructure life cycle and tried to cut time. The Deputy referenced transport and water. We have the joint utilities and transport clearing house. That reflects those key sectors which build the foundations of any community in terms of water, energy and transport infrastructure. Improving co-ordination in how that wider infrastructure is delivered is part of that objective. All the utilities are involved in that, including Eirgrid and the ESB in the context of infrastructure. We will advance the critical infrastructure Bill, which will help set the prioritisation and political direction for the Government and the Oireachtas around particular projects. That could be in advance of projects going into the planning process.”
“The changes we are making relate to the thresholds and will significantly help the better delivery of water infrastructure in the State by moving the threshold from €200 million to €500 million. There are certain dual approvals required and, in some instances in transport, sometimes more than two approvals required and multiple agencies regulatory bodies are involved. This will be assessed by the regulatory simplification unit to simplify the approval process and avoid duplication, as Deputy Connolly has referenced, to speed up delivery.”
“On Deputy Connolly's first point, this is removing an unnecessary middle step which was adding time. The critical points are approval of the preliminary business case, which sets the political direction for a project to be advanced with prospective capital spend, and final approval for a contract award, which involves the respective Minister. Again, it removes a middle step which did not provide value and just added time. This is what is being changed. In terms of transport and water projects, we will have a regulatory simplification unit to look at the wider regulatory landscape where we have duplication of approvals, whether through the CRU or other respective bodies.”
“These and other recommendations in the action plan, including on the introduction of administrative guidance on timelines for preliminary business case assessment and maintaining a maximum length, will be included in the overall public financial management and control framework as part of the wider review of public financial procedures. Saving time and improving delivery is our wider focus.”
“Trying to remove duplicate and unnecessary steps to save time has been the central objective for us in government. These changes will remove unnecessary time delays for critical infrastructure projects while retaining the necessary governance and oversight arrangements to ensure value for money for the taxpayer. In particular, the removal of the external assurance process, which was taking on average 20 weeks, will ensure projects move more rapidly through the delivery lifecycle while ensuring projects over a particular threshold will see the major project advisory group involved.”
“In line with this action, I brought a memorandum to Government this week on the following changes to the infrastructure guidelines. In relation to major projects, the threshold will increase from €200 million to €500 million for sectors with a well-established track record of delivery, particularly in the energy, transport and water sectors. The external assurance process will be replaced with a streamlined and time-bound internal review by the Department for all sectors to save significant time. Major projects at approval gate 2 will no longer need ministerial approval and may now be approved solely by the Accounting Officer of the Department that is funding the proposed project. Ministers will continue to be involved at approval gates 1 and 3, which are the critical decision points.”
“I thank Deputy Connolly and I appreciate his support on this. My Department is responsible for the infrastructure guidelines, which replaced the public spending code for capital appraisal since the end of 2023. These set the value for money requirements and guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects. Management and delivery of investment projects and public services within allocation and the national frameworks is a key responsibility of every Department, Accounting Officer and Minister. Action 23 in the accelerating infrastructure report, published in December 2025, commits my Department to streamline and speed up the project approvals process by amending the infrastructure guidelines.”
“It will allow for a broader rebalancing. In terms of the public accounts committee and others, the risk appetite statements will provide a context in the years to come when, hopefully, we will have a higher level of delivery for the infrastructure committee. This will have to be seen in the context of wider assessments when analysing spend.”
“It is about having a clear, greater and more proportionate risk appetite statement for many infrastructure decisions. Ultimately we are measured on delivery and it is a process-driven approach. We have circular analysis and delays that will not narrow the infrastructure gap, which is well documented. The risk appetite statement will set out the expected benefits for delivery for a Department or agency, and how the assumption of greater risk outweighs the potential cost. We know that some of the processes we are trying to cut through and cut out in many instances add a significant level of cost to our overall capital spend, which the infrastructure committee has discussed. We will define and publish these in quarter 2 of this year. This is a clear signal to the public service to get on with delivery and have a delivery focus first.”
“It will come down to increasing risk appetite in multiple areas and decision points in the infrastructure lifecycle. The risk appetite statement is about us backing the public service to do this, which could have an adverse effect in a minority of projects but ultimately will yield better delivery and cut through the risk aversion which is well documented.”
“I agree with everything the Deputy said and I appreciate his inputs at the infrastructure committee as well. There are well-documented issues with the existing culture, which has been too risk averse, leading to delays and cost increases. It is too process driven. It is about putting a delivery culture and delivery focus first. That means increasing risk appetite, but also taking practical steps, for example, carrying out early site clearance works in advance of or in parallel with another part of the process or forward ordering of key components for critical infrastructure so we can start a project much quicker while waiting for something else to conclude. Putting a lot of steps in parallel involves greater risk appetite if something does not happen as expected.”
“This action is intended to support the creation of a co-ordinated, legally empowered system that reduces delays, improves planning certainty, increases the risk appetite and deals with the wider issues of risk aversion, which have been well documented. Following Government approval, Departments will be asked to define and publish clear, proportionate risk appetite statements for critical infrastructure decisions that can support a higher risk appetite. This will progress better expected benefits of delivery, which would outweigh the potential costs in the context of greater assumed risk. Examples of taking on a higher level of risk could include-----”
“We have had the first meeting of the new joint utilities and transport clearing house to have shared collaboration across sectors and greater delivery and co-operation. Under pillar 3, co-ordination and delivery reform, the aim is to introduce risk appetite statements to enable proportionate oversight and accelerate infrastructure delivery. This action is to provide a better strategic-level risk governance tool that sets a higher level of risk for Government Departments or agencies on what they are willing to tolerate, identifying boundaries on high-risk decisions and wider and clearer expectations for risk oversight.”
“My Department has already led on a number of reforms to date, including, but not limited to, the drafting process of the general scheme of the critical infrastructure Bill to be progressed during March, which has been published in the Government’s published legislative agenda; the establishment of a regulatory simplification unit, whose work will include reviewing regulatory structures, governance, oversight and accountability and revising and simplifying different legislation and statutes; and preparing reforms to the infrastructure guidelines, which is being progressed this month. I have also launched a new service to accelerate major Government capital investment through the expertise of the National Development Finance Agency.”
“I thank Deputy Neville. In December 2025, 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 housing, energy and climate objectives. The plan sets out 30 targeted actions grouped under four areas, namely, legal reform, regulatory reform and simplification, delivery reform, and public acceptance.”
“There have been issues for people in Hollystown. Some even have quite a long walk to get to the existing bus stop. There is a need to improve the existing service but also to reflect the feedback people have given in respect of the various bus routes. Like the Deputy, I will engage with the National Transport Authority on some of the amendments that need to be made to the bus routes and in the context of reflecting the feedback we are getting from constituents. The authority needs to future-proof the transport system in the area in light of ongoing population growth. There is a need to improve in that context, and I will pursue that.”
“I have also interacted with BusConnects to ensure that those involved future-proof further developments in the context of areas, including Tyrrelstown and Hollystown, where there has been or will be significant population growth. People in both places need access better public transport, as the Deputy referenced. That is a matter on which I continue to engage with those involved.”
“I acknowledge the particular issue that exists. I meet with many constituents from both Tyrrelstown and Hollystown, where the bus service does need to be much improved. There has been a significant increase in housing supply in Tyrrelstown and Hollystown, but there is a need to improve the service for the sake of many of the existing residents. Part of the BusConnects plan is to deliver that, which is obviously more on the infrastructure side, but there is also a need improve the frequency of buses and the respective bus routes that service Tyrrelstown and Hollystown. This is something I have engaged on frequently with the National Transport Authority in relation to the additional service roll-out in the period ahead.”