Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

My Department works to serve the country, its people and the Government by delivering well-managed and well-targeted public spending, delivered through modernised, effective and accountable public services.

The process around outsourcing set out in the public service pay agreement states that where outsourcing is being considered in respect of an existing service, both official and staff sides will consult on the development of a service plan which evaluates and compares the in-house service and the outsourcing option. The public service pay agreement 2024-2026 reaffirms the commitment to the above and states that where a dispute arises through the application of this process, parties will seek to resolve it through direct dialogue. Where this fails to resolve the dispute, parties will use the dispute resolution mechanism set out in chapter 5 of the agreement. Accordingly, where a dispute arises, it will be subject to a six-week period of initial bilateral engagement at local level between the parties. Where agreement cannot be reached, the dispute will be referred to the WRC or, if necessary, the Labour Court. Where a conciliation or arbitration scheme applies, the issue will be referred within six weeks to the conciliation machinery under the scheme and, if unresolved, to the arbitration board. The Labour Court or arbitration mechanism is the final stage in the dispute resolution service.

My Department has been responsible for a number of recent reform initiatives, including the Better Public Services strategy, which aims to deliver inclusive, high-quality and integrated public service provision. Better Public Services is aligned with the ten-year strategy for the Civil Service, Civil Service Renewal 2030, which is built on three core themes: digital first and embedding innovation; workforce, workplace and organisation of the future; and evidence-informed policy and services. It is also aligned with Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s public service.

There are no functions, roles or services within my Department that were outsourced to the private sector which were previously carried out by civil servants.

To speak more generally on the scale of recruitment of public servants, over the past five years we have seen an extensive and positive expansion in the numbers of public servants across many areas of remit, and rightly so. If there are any changes, there is a process under the public pay agreement to manage them.

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