Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised)
Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source
Overall, we are reducing the number of stages in that process from, I believe, five to three. The difference will mainly be one of time and being able to move projects of a certain scale forward faster. Regarding the Deputy’s particular question about Mayo County Council, I am not familiar with the individual projects that she is referring to, but I imagine that they are the kinds of project that the Department of housing is well used to evaluating and approving. I hope that these changes will speed up that process.
I do not need to tell the Deputy that, while a project can be approved after a local authority or the Government decides to proceed with it, we frequently have delays and issues in the tendering process due to companies’ availability to do the work. This causes communities and public representatives a great deal of dissatisfaction. I only offer that as a general point. I do not know if it is relevant to the particular issue or projects the Deputy is raising.
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