Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We had an extensive discussion on this yesterday evening. The purpose of the Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025 is to give effect to the decision by Government to increase the maximum number of Ministers of State from 20 to 23. This number has remained unchanged for the past 18 years, since 2007, when it increased from 17 to 20. The Bill also reflects the increased numbers of Ministers of State attending Cabinet, which is being extended to four. At the moment, a maximum of three Ministers of State may receive the allowance for attending Cabinet.

The draft of that Bill was published on Thursday, 6 February. A number of proposed amendments were received by Friday, 7 February. As the Deputy will be aware, we discussed the amendments in the Dáil yesterday evening and the Bill is due to be debated in the Seanad at - I think - 12.15 p.m. today. That is the update.

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