Results 21-40 of 9,363 for speaker:Jack Chambers

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: I will take the Cathaoirleach's suggestion back to the Department.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: We had a meeting of the accelerated infrastructure task force yesterday. There are emerging solutions that can make an impact this year. We hope to have a report on the barriers to infrastructure delivery within a month and then take actions based on that. That will make a difference. I will set it out when that is compiled. A lot of processes are not serving delivery, which needs to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: If we look at some of the distributional analysis from last year, we can see the impact of what we did in budget 2025. We published the well-being framework last week and the distributional analysis of the impact it has had. We have a variety of tools that we use in our preparation of the budget process and also in the budget aftermath to assess the metrics the Deputy is referencing. That...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: On that, we will try to protect the profile of capital investment in the medium term. That is the critical growth-enabling infrastructure that will build the prosperity of the 2030s. It is important in the context of the risks that we have. Regarding the medium-term plan that was submitted in October, it is a technical document on a no-policy change basis. What the Government has to do...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: I thank the Deputy for that important question. First, water and wastewater are being prioritised in the review of the national development plan. We have separate work ongoing on reviewing the shareholder level of expectation with all commercial State bodies in regard to what the Government expects them to do and what it expects them to deliver. We are progressing that reform as a distinct...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: I also read the book. It is an important read that maps out the difficulty of that time in terms of navigating policy. The profile of spend has gone from €3.99 billion between current and capital to €8.6 billion and we still have the pressure that exists. That is why in the broader conversation on housing policy or any policy it is not all about additionality and we need to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: It is both. It cannot always be a conversation just about how much more a Minister of Department is receiving. That disguises the need to look at the baseline position on how Ministers can do more with their existing expenditure positions. That is a focus of mine.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: I will come back to some of the points raised by the Deputy. I am not familiar with the exact nature of Turkish construction sector. I will say there is a general theme across the European Union about the need for simplification, balancing regulation and removing complexity, which is hamstringing many European economies. There are reforms happening with European procurement. We are...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: Absolutely. That is exactly what we want to try to prioritise in the broader expenditure investment discussions. It has to be as much about outputs and looking at the baseline position around how Departments or agencies are managing their existing spend and what we are getting from it, particularly with the levels of increases we have seen in recent years.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: The capital appraisal guidelines are published.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: The data available to my department, in particular to the Office of Government Procurement through the eTenders platform data, provides information in relation to the number of submissions received for competitions published on eTenders. Data is also available on the number of competitions that have published a contract award notice on the platform. My department does not however have access...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: The 2016 Regulations made mandatory the use of electronic procurement (eprocurement) in all procurement procedures. eTenders as the national eprocurement platform allows contracting authorities meet their obligations in this regard. In terms of notices, the Regulations mandated the items below:Mandatory enotification and electronic access to tender documents.Mandatory submission of tenders...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: Individual Accounting Officers are responsible for ensuring that their public procurement functions are discharged in line with the standard accounting and procurement rules and procedures and are accountable for expenditure incurred. Individual Contracting Authorities are responsible for establishing arrangements for ensuring the proper conduct of their affairs, including conformance to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: As the Deputy will be aware, ultimate responsibility for public procurement within the Department, like all matters of financial management, falls to the Secretary General as Accounting Officer. However, the Deputy may also be aware that, under Circular 40/02, all Departments are required to appoint a Procurement Officer. In that context, the Procurement Officer in my Department is Gillian...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: My Department does not maintain a compulsory central register of the qualifications of staff, so it is not possible to provide all of the detailed information requested. However, in the following reply, I have sought to provide the Deputy with as much information as possible, including some wider background context. It is important to note that there is no one recognised EU Public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: The information requested by the Deputy for my Department and the bodies under its aegis is set out in the table below. Public Body Formal Contract Management System Procurement Tracking Platform Centrally Monitored Independently Operated Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: My Department has not identified mandatory qualification requirements for public servants working in procurement roles across Government Departments and agencies. The Civil Service Competency Framework supports development of the relevant skills needed by civil and public servants, and further supports capability building for individuals across all roles responsible for delivering on...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: Each Accounting Officer is responsible for the monitoring of performance of public contracts under his or her remit and for ensuring that the public procurement function is efficiently and effectively discharged in line with standard accounting and procurement rules and procedures to deliver maximum value for money for the taxpayer. My department has responsibility for public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: Since 2013 my department, through the OGP has liaised with a sample of public service bodies to gather data on procurement addressable expenditure from across the public service to support the provision of public procurement sourcing services and inform policy development in this area. This data was also used, on an aggregated basis, as the basis for the ‘Spend Data’ component...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Semi-State Bodies (24 Jun 2025)

Jack Chambers: I do not hold the primary Ministerial responsibility for the borrowing capacity for any of the Commercial Semi State Bodies (CSSBs) and I am therefore unable to provide the deputy with the information she has requested. It is usually a matter for the Government Department under whose aegis responsibility for individual CSSBs falls to respond to such enquiries. The Deputy might seek to...