Results 9,661-9,680 of 9,919 for speaker:Jack Chambers

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Expenditure (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets overall expenditure ceilings for each Ministerial Vote Group. These are laid out at Budget time in the Expenditure Report with further detail then provided in the Revised Estimates for Public Services. Following allocation of each Ministerial Expenditure Ceiling, it is a matter for each Minister to assign funding as appropriate...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Properties (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not own any property and therefore has no properties of the nature specified in the Question. The bodies under the aegis of my Department, with the exception of the Office of Public Works (OPW), also do not own any property. As the Deputy will be aware, the OPW owns a substantial portfolio of property. Its own occupation of property is...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Pensions (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The Single Public Service Pension Scheme is a statutory Public Service Career-Average Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. It was established on 1 January 2013 under the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012. Public service pension schemes established prior to the enactment of the Single Scheme Act are generally referred to as “pre-existing schemes”. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Policy (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: I propose to take Questions Nos. 643, 645, 646 and 647 together. There is no commonly agreed definition of the term NGO (non-governmental organisation) but it is typically used to refer to civil society bodies, which is the approach taken in this reply. In that context, my Department has funded Transparency International Ireland (TII) since 2013 to support the Department’s role in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Services (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: My Department previously provided grant funding to Benefacts between the period 2015-2022. The project was funded as a pathfinder initiative in the area of data analytics on the non-profit sector. Benefacts was initially co-funded with philanthropy, however, over time the Department had been providing the majority of funding to the entity. In...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Civil Service (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: I am informed by the Public Appointments Service (publicjobs), the centralised provider of recruitment and selection services for the Civil and Public Service and a body under the aegis of my Department, that the most recent Clerical Officer in the Civil Service (Fluent Irish) campaign was launched in April 2025. Of 99 applicants, 60 attended interview and 54 were successful and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Civil Service (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The data in the table below sets out the total number of Civil Servants at the end of June 2025 by general service grade group and includes Irish Prison Service staff and professional and technical grades. These figures are represented in full-time equivalent terms and are the most recent figures currently available to my Department. Grade Group End June 2025 ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Heritage Sites (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The Office of Public Works is responsible for the conservation, care and presentation of Kilkenny Castle and parkland.  In 2024, there were approximately 417,000 ticketed visitors to Kilkenny Castle and 780,000 to the parklands. As indicated in my previous reply in May, the OPW delivers an annual programme of maintenance and conservation at the Castle including planned and reactive...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Properties (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The Office of Public Works (OPW) can confirm works have been carried out on the Old Garda Station in Ennis.  The nature of the works, and expenditure are outlined in the following table: Year Description of Works Amount (ExVAT) 2019 Routine Minor Maintenance Expenditure €6,020.00 2020 Routine...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Properties (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The Courts Service of Ireland are directly responsible for Wicklow Courthouse and any future plans for it. In this regard, any National Development Plan allocations and the prioritisation of same are a matter for the Department of Justice Home Affairs and Migration.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Properties (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: Wicklow Town Court House is in the ownership of the Courts Service.  At the request of the Courts Service the OPW commissioned a condition survey for the roof of the Court House in 2024 and carried out remedial works to address the issues identified.  A contractor was selected through a competitive tender process and works carried out include the following;Removing Dry Rot as agreed...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Communications (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The Programme for Government has prioritised an early review of the National Development Plan (NDP), to be published this July. The aim of the Review is to improve our infrastructure, particularly water, energy, transport and housing. Improvements to this supporting economic infrastructure are necessary to enable the delivery of hundreds of thousands of additional homes and to boost our...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: Public services are provided through a mix of both public service and non-public service workforce. All public service employees have access to a public service pension scheme. Pension arrangements for non-public service employees are a matter for their respective employers. This Department would not have information in relation to the pension provisions for non-public service employees. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: I propose to take Questions Nos. 657 and 658 together. The previous Parliamentary Questions referred to by the Deputy concerned the provision by my Department and bodies under its aegis of grant / capital funding programmes available to community and sporting organisations. My Department recently held a limited Call for Applications for Sponsorship Opportunities to enhance...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Heritage Sites (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: As the Deputy will be aware, the Office of Public Works (OPW) is advancing a significant redevelopment of the visitor facilities at Clonmacnoise, supported through the EU Just Transition Fund. Our project partners include the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Offaly County Council and Fáilte Ireland. This investment will deliver a substantial improvement to the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Heritage Sites (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: Since the announcement of €10m of funding from Shared Island for the enhancement of the visitor attraction at the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre and Oldbridge Estate, the OPW has been working to progress this landmark project. The 500-acre Estate was acquired in 2000 in order to preserve and present the unique history of the Battle of the Boyne, and the visitor centre located...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: An Garda Síochána (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: I wish to inform the Deputy that the Tender assessment and evaluation stage for a Main Contractor and Reserved Specialists for the Clonmel Garda Station project is now complete. Preferred Tenders for the Main Contract and for the Reserved Specialist mechanical, electrical and lift works have all been identified. The mandatory 'standstill period' has expired and the OPW has held...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Development Plan (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The Programme for Government 2025 set out the clear ambition to prioritise the delivery of transformative, critical and growth-enhancing infrastructure over the next five years. Ensuring this infrastructure is resilient to our changing climate is a key consideration. In the recently published National Development Plan 2026-2035, Ireland's long-term strategic investment plan, Government has...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (17 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: In July 2024, this Department issued a circular in respect of the Occupational Supplementary Pension (OSP), which streamlined the application process and removed the requirement for public service pensioners to engage with the Department of Social Protection before reaching State Pension Age (currently 66) in order to avail of an OSP. This matter has been resolved and is not under review. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (17 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: The abatement of public service pensions is provided for in Section 52 of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 – the "Single Scheme Act", however the principle of abatement is longstanding and dates back to the Superannuation Act, 1834. In the context of public service pensions, abatement is the suspension or reduction in an individual’s...