Results 1-20 of 9,678 for speaker:Jack Chambers

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Radio Spectrum Management (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: I can confirm to the Deputy that there is an existing resilient mission-critical radio network using the TETRA standard already in operation and used for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) purposes.  This network is operated by Tetra Ireland and is designed to provide a reliable and robust emergency network for the State's emergency personnel with the widest possible coverage....

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

Jack Chambers: Circular 05/2023 sets out that all public procurement tenders, where they have an estimated value above specified national thresholds, must be advertised on the national electronic tendering platform (eTenders). As such, the estimated value of individual public procurement tenders is captured in a central system (eTenders) and available to my Department to report on an aggregated basis, for...

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

Jack Chambers: I am informed by the Office of the Regulator of the National Lottery that full details of any breaches of the Licence to operate the National Lottery are published in the annual reports of the independent Regulator of the National Lottery, in line with the National Lottery Act 2013. There have been 10 incidences of breaches found between the commencement of the Licence in November 2014 and 1...

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

Jack Chambers: My Department is committed to ensuring that all pension appeals received in accordance with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circular 16/2020 are thoroughly examined in a fair and impartial manner. The matter referred to is currently under active consideration. A detailed determination explaining the outcome of the pension appeal will be communicated directly to the appellant upon...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Parliamentary Party Allowances (8 Sep 2025)

Jack Chambers: I propose to take Questions Nos. 615, 616, 617 and 618 together. I propose to respond to Parliamentary Questions 44878/25; 44879/25; 44880/25; and 44930/25 together. Provision for the Parliamentary Activities Allowance is made under the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 as amended, most recently by the Oireachtas (Ministerial & Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act...

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

Jack Chambers: The Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Act 2024 established the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund (ICN Fund).  The purpose of ICN Fund is to support the economy in times of exceptional need and to support Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy through the funding of designated environmental projects. A total of €2 billion will be...

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

Jack Chambers: Along with other elected and appointed public officials, the special advisers to whom the Deputy refers are subject to, and have a range of obligations under, our national framework for ethics in public life: the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 and the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 (collectively known as the Ethics Acts). Specifically, special advisers are obliged under section 19 of...

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

Jack Chambers: My Department has published the Public Procurement Guidelines for Goods and Services to provide a comprehensive interpretation of the public procurement regulations, S.I. No. 284/2016 - European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations 2016. These guidelines advise that contracting authorities are required to take appropriate measures to prevent, identify and remedy conflicts...

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

Jack Chambers: As I have stated previously, I am committed to fully and comprehensively addressing and resolving these issues. I appointed Derek Moran, Former Secretary General of the Department of Finance, as chair of the NSSO Advisory Board. At my request, Mr Moran commissioned an external audit. The tender competition is nearing completion, and the successful firm will be named following the formal...

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

Jack Chambers: I propose to take Questions Nos. 632, 633, 634 and 635 together. Ireland’s whistleblower protection framework is governed by the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, which was significantly strengthened by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022. This legislation commenced operation on 1 January 2023 and gives effect to the EU Whistleblowing Directive (Directive (EU)...

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

Jack Chambers: I have overarching responsibility for public service pensions policy.  While I have responsibility for pensions policy for public servants, of whom some are school secretaries and caretakers, I have no responsibility for pensions for those school secretaries and caretakers who are directly employed by school Boards of Management and are not public servants. The...

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

Jack Chambers: I propose to take Questions Nos. 637 and 638 together. The Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Act 2024 established the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund (ICN Fund).  The purpose of ICN Fund is to support the economy in times of exceptional need and to support Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy through the funding of designated...

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...