Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that there are four types of body under the aegis of my Department.

• Civil Service Offices and Agencies (Scheduled Bodies) i.e. the National Shared Services Office, the State Laboratory, the Public Appointments Service and the Office of Public Works;
• The Office of the Ombudsman and the Office of the Regulator of the National Lottery (independent in the performance of their functions);
• The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Institute of Public Administration (IPA) which are not State Bodies but do receive grant funding; and
• The Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) which is a North South Implementation Body established under the Good Friday Agreement.

In terms of the last ten years, the National Shared Services Office was established on 1 January 2018 under the National Shared Services Office Act 2017. Total annual expenditure is set out below.

Body	Year	Total Annual Expenditure
National Shared Services Office	2018	€46.8 million
National Shared Services Office	2019	€47.5 million
National Shared Services Office	2020	€47.9 million
National Shared Services Office	2021	€59.1 million
National Shared Services Office	2022	€65.2 million
National Shared Services Office	2023	€74.2 million
National Shared Services Office	2024	€72.2 million
National Shared Services Office	2025	€20.5 million*

*Outturn to end April 2025.

In addition, the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022, which commenced on 1 January 2023, established the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner (OPDC) and provided that the Ombudsman is also the Protected Disclosures Commissioner. The OPDC is therefore funded as part of the Vote for the Office of the Ombudsman (Vote 19), which, in addition to this office, also includes the Commission for Public Service Appointments, the Standards in Public Office Commission, the Office of the Information Commissioner and the Commissioner for Environmental Information. Accommodation and other services for the OPDC are covered by this Vote, so the figures below represent the specific staff costs in respect of the OPDC.

Public Body	Year	Total Annual Expenditure*
Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner	2023	€224,033*
Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner	2024	€257,163*
Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner	2025	€114,697* to date

*The figures provided are pay costs for staff directly employed in the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner and does not include the cost corporate services or non-pay costs.