The Attorney General provides all of the legal advice to the Government and is leading the defence of the specific cases raised by the Deputy. The Government is defending the particular cases so that matter will evolve in the courts. As I said yesterday, we can consider a number of other jurisdictions, such as Finland, where there are 19 Ministries, with a minister or secretary of state underpinning each, or New Zealand, where there are 20 ministers and ministers of state. Many jurisdictions of similar size and sim…

The legislation that is currently progressing through the Oireachtas is distinct and different from the specific constitutional questions that are the subject of the two judicial review cases before the High Court. They are being fully defended by the Attorney General. The practice and procedure over many decades has been the attendance at Cabinet of Ministers of State. The constitutionality of that continued practice is being fully defended by the Government and the Attorney General. The legislation that is before…

The inflationary shock which started in 2022 was the most significant episode of inflation experienced in Ireland since the mid-1980s. Aware of the challenges that inflation posed for households and businesses, Government provided a series of temporary and permanent cost-of-living packages. The purpose of the supports was to ameliorate the exceptionally high energy bills that were a result of market volatility through one-off energy credits and to offer temporary, targeted financial support to households and busine…

As stated, we will have a planned approach to this in the context of 2026. In every budget, we publish a distributional analysis. There is a consideration of well-being. A whole range of indices are published by the Departments of Finance and public expenditure. We have committed ourselves to progressive budgeting over the next number of years. We are also committing ourselves to returning to a more standard budgetary process, which is done in parallel with a medium-term fiscal plan, which we have to submit to the …

The Deputy is taking a very negative stance on cuts. Thankfully, we are in a position whereby we are running a budgetary surplus. We will be in a position by means of budget 2026, the summer economic statement and the medium-term fiscal plan to provide additional supports, but through a more regular budgetary process. That means an envelope and support when it comes to the social protection budget, for example. The Deputy referred to energy credits. Perhaps the Social Democrats are opposed to electricity credits. T…

The Social Democrats say they are opposed to energy credits, so it is interesting. A lot of the measures we introduced last year were targeted, like the living alone allowance and the qualified child increment lump sum and the working family payment. Some of the progressive measures I introduced with the additional tax credits, for example, were very much targeted at many vulnerable people in our society. That will all be considered in the context of budget 2026. As I have said, progressivity and the distributional…

I thank the Deputy. The programme for Government states that this Government will undertake a programme of workforce planning to identify the optimal staffing model within the public sector to meet the needs of our changing demographics. In considering the approach to this, I will have regard to the responsibilities of other Ministers in relation to relevant issues such as recruitment in their respective sectors and taking account of the existing policy context. Regarding overall public service staffing, the estima…

I can revert to the Deputy on the specific background to the figures and I am happy to do that. On the overall point, as our demographics change and our population grows, we want to make sure - similar to the Deputy's party - we have increased numbers of people working in the public service and that it is in a place where people want to join it and it is an attractive place to work. That is obviously reflected in overall pay policy, which is central to retaining and recruiting staff into our public service, and sup…

I acknowledge the contribution many section 39 workers make in disability, health and social care organisations across our country. As the Deputy will know, there is an industrial relations process in that regard. This is being co-ordinated by the Department of children and disability, which has many section 39 workers under its direct remit. My own Department is engaged with the Department in respect of that. The WRC is the place for that engagement to take place. On blended working, as the Deputy will know, my De…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 70 and 77 together. The programme for Government sets out the clear ambition to prioritise the delivery of transformative, critical and growth-enhancing infrastructure over the next five years by delivering projects as early as possible and within budget. Extra emphasis has been given to my Department through the placing of a real focus on infrastructure and the creation of a dedicated infrastructure division led by a deputy Secretary General. The division will provide greater overs…

We are scoping out the overall staffing needs of the division but, to be clear, the overall intention and policy focus in the establishment of this division is not to shallow out or undermine the expertise or delivery systems we have within existing Departments. This is very much to complement and enhance delivery systems, to focus on barriers to delivery and to progress the overall reforms that will be required to drive delivery across different Departments and agencies. That is the overall intention here. This is…

First, we will review the national development plan to identify a new ambition and focus on overall delivery. What we have set out previously, for example, in regard to the state aid case concerning Apple, is that the strategic priorities of our economy are housing, water, energy and transport infrastructure. The other pillar is health digitalisation. That has been a missed opportunity for too long. It is hugely important in the context of our healthcare infrastructure. The fragmentation and limitation of the digit…

The previous Government committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the national development plan, published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2025, €15 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action. An additional €2.25 billion of windfall corporate tax receipts has been allocated from 2024 to 2026 to provide funding for critical infrastructure project…

It is an absolute priority. On the specific items or examples the Deputy has raised, I have met with the chair of the OPW, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, as regards the specific concerns relating to particular projects. In certain instances, members of the public have been extremely concerned, as indeed I think anyone in the political system is, about particular cost overruns. The OPW has been held to account in the Oireachtas. It is important that we have central guidance and oversight to ensure v…

I thank the Deputy and I welcome that. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and I are happy to work with everyone on a constructive basis on the common objective across our respective responsibilities in the Department. I take very seriously the concerns that have been articulated relating to value for money on particular projects, well-documented ones, many of which were unacceptable in terms of their cost overruns. It is important that there is that anchor of discipline on overall spending when it comes to capita…

The Government has committed to review the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service Organisations to consider how the implementation of this approach best delivers public services. My Department will consider the commitments and actions set out in the programme for Government which fall under its remit, including the commitments and actions relating to blended working. The Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service Organisations was published by my Department in March 2022. The framework provides …

The blended working policy framework encourages all individual Civil Service organisations to carry out regular reviews of their own blended working policies in consultation with all stakeholders, including employee representative groups at a local level. The current blended working policy framework for the Civil Service organisations recognises as well that employers require flexibility at a local level to decide on the blended working arrangements that best suit their own business and service delivery needs. That…

I respectfully disagree because we have a blended working evaluation model and that is providing significant insights and evidence. It was published by my Department in July last year and is designed to assist organisations in effectively assessing the impact of blended working on the ways people work. The model provides for a mechanism for continuous improvement. This enables organisations to gain valuable insights, share learnings and identify areas for enhancement. I have also put on record that the framework en…

It is on a public infrastructure Act.

I thank the Deputy. The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the national development plan published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2025, €15 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action. An additional €2.25 billion of windfall corporation tax receipts has also been allocated from 2024 to 2026 to provide funding for critical i…