Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be here today to present the 2024 Estimates for my Department’s group of Votes. I am joined by the Minister of State with responsibility for public procurement and eGovernment, Deputy Ossian Smyth. There are ten Votes under the public expenditure, national development plan delivery and reform Vote group: Vote 11 – Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform; Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances, which covers Civil Service pensions; Votes for a number of offices under the aegis of my Department, including the State Laboratory - Vote 14, the Public Appointments Service - Vote 17, the National Shared Services Office, Vote 18, and the Office of the Ombudsman, Vote 19; Vote 15 - Secret Service; Vote 39 - the Office of Government Procurement; and Vote 43 - the Office of the Chief Government Information Officer. The Minister of State, Deputy O’Donovan, will present the Revised Estimate for the Office of Public Works to the committee following this session.

On the remaining Votes under the group which are the subject of this meeting, the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, is happy to address questions relating to the Office of Government Procurement and the Office of the Chief Government Information Officer, and I will address questions regarding the other Votes.

In an overall context, the 2024 total gross Estimate for the PER group of Votes, comprising nine distinct Votes, is €1.14 billion, an increase of 5.6% on the 2023 allocation. The overall gross figure for 2024 is compared to €1.08 billion in 2023, inclusive of Supplementary Estimates. This is largely driven by three main factors: an increased Estimate provision to Vote 12, Superannuation and Retired Allowances; targeted increases to enable the delivery of essential services; and additional salary costs associated with the new public service pay agreement.

Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform - aims to drive the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland by enhancing governance, building capacity and delivering effectively. For 2024, the gross Estimate is €59.4 million and €56.5 million in net terms. This is an increase of €5.1 million over the 2023 allocation. The additional funding requirement is primarily driven by three factors in particular: an increase in the grant to the Institute of Public Administration to support the transfer of OneLearning and senior public service training functions from the Department to the IPA and allowing for a significant expansion of OneLearning’s activities across the wider public service; increased grant funding to the ESRI to support its important work; and an increase in the EU bodies technical assistance grant in line with the significant EU programmes now in operation, such as the Brexit Adjustment Reserve and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which together have a value in excess of €2 billion.

Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances - provides for pension and retirement lump sum costs for civil servants, including prison officers, and pension payments for dependents. Year on year variation in expenditure on this Vote is primarily driven by the number of individuals who will opt to retire before reaching their compulsory retirement age, and whose years of service and grade or pay level are variable and uncertain.

The gross Estimate of €869.6 million I am proposing today, represents an increase of €42 million, or 5.1%, on the 2023 gross Estimate. This increase reflects the higher number of pensioners on the fortnightly pension payroll. Other bodies under the aegis of the Department, such as the Public Appointments Service, PAS, the National Shared Services Office and the State Laboratory, provide important services to large numbers of clients across the civil and public service.

Vote 14 is for the State Laboratory. It provides a high quality, innovative and responsive chemical analysis and advisory service to Government Departments and offices. The 2024 Estimate will provide €14.8 million in gross funding and €13.5 million in net terms. This allocation will facilitate the State Laboratory to respond to the increased demand for post-mortem forensic toxicology testing by redesigning the service, implementing efficiencies and training new staff; introduce new methods of analysis to support the introduction of the new European fiscal fuel marker; and develop testing capacity for the analysis of food and feed samples to support the national risk-based control plan, to enable Ireland to comply with new EU legislation and to support the Food Vision 2030 strategy.

Vote 17 is for the Public Appointments Service, PAS. It is the key provider of recruitment and selection services across the civil and wider public service. The 2024 Estimate proposes funding of €23.6 million in gross terms and €23.4 million in net terms for the Vote. This will allow PAS to continue to source high quality candidates for positions in the civil and public service across over 600 recruitment campaigns and to manage the attraction and assessment of candidates for appointment to State boards in line with the agreed guidelines.

A key aim of PAS in 2024 will be to focus on attracting and retaining a diversity of people to the public service through delivering its equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and supporting initiatives.

The National Shared Services Office, NSSO, has played an important role in Vote 18 in the reform of public services, namely through the delivery of HR services and payroll services to clients across the civil and public service. It is also leading its largest transformation programme to date, the financial management shared services programme. The Estimate is €79.6 million in gross terms and €72.6 million net. It will enable the continued provision of HR services, payroll services and finance shared services. Under the newly established transformation office and business transformation and design team, one of the key objectives of the NSSO in 2024 will be to deliver greater efficiency and integration of services through a number of transformation projects, including in relation to financial shared services.

Vote 19 is for the Office of the Ombudsman. It provides for a number of different bodies, including the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of the Commission for Public Service Appointments, the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner, the Standards in Public Office Commission, the Office of the Information Commissioner and the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information. The Estimate proposes an allocation of just under €15 million in gross terms and some €14.5 million in net terms across its programmes. This will provide an increase of 8% over the 2023 allocation.

Vote 39 is for the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, which is a key element of our public service reform agenda. The State procures goods, services and works that cost in the region of €18.5 billion each year. In that context, it is essential that public services operate in a co-ordinated and efficient way to deliver Government’s objectives and enable better, sustainable and more transparent public procurement. The Estimate of €22.3 million in 2024 would allow the OGP to continue to support clients in availing of central solutions, to develop a digital strategy and implementation road map, to develop and enhance the functionality of eTenders, and to agree an OGP-specific procurement competency framework.

Vote 43 is for the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, OGCIO. This office drives the Government’s digital agenda across the public service. Working collaboratively, it develops and delivers pan-public service digital platforms, making Ireland an exemplar in the delivery of high quality digital public services. In addition, it provides a suite of common applications, services and supports to Government Departments and agencies under its build to share initiative and is currently in the process of engaging with prospective client public bodies that seek to on-board during 2023.

The Estimate is €53 million, a 16.8% increase on 2023. This includes a proposed allocation of €14 million for the digital transformation fund. This fund will allow the OGCIO and the public service transformation team in my Department to increase the focus on delivery of citizen-facing digital services under the life events programme. The programme will focus on assisting at scale the roll-out of new digital government solutions in line with Connecting Government 2030, Better Public Services - Public Service Transformation 2030, and Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework. I would like to acknowledge the great work the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, is doing with regard to these projects.

I am happy to present the 2024 Estimates for my Department’s group, approval of which will allow the individual Votes to continue to meet their responsibilities and deliver essential services. I am happy, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, to answer any questions members may have.