No.

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Data Protection Act 2018 (Section 60(6)) (Office of the Ombudsman) Regulations 2022 a copy of which was laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 11th March, 2022, be referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, in accordance with Standing Order 95(5), which, not later than 26th April, 2022, shall send a message to the Dáil in the manner prescribed in Standing Order 101, and Standing Order 100(2) shal…

I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 187, it be an instruction to the Committee to which the Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022 may be recommitted in respect of certain amendments, that it has power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing provisions of the Bill, in relation to the Building Control Act 2007, in order to make administrative amendments to provisions of that Act in relation to the statutory register for architects, building surveyors and quantity …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I am happy to stand in for the Taoiseach in making this statement. The European Council will meet in Brussels later this week, on 24 and 25 March. That meeting will be followed by a meeting of the Euro Summit, which will also be held in Brussels. This will be the third meeting of EU leaders within a month, and since Russia’s brutal and illegal large-scale aggression and invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February. Before turning to this week’s European Council agenda, I will briefly update…

I move the following Supplementary Estimate: Vote 29 - Office of the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary Estimate) That a supplementary sum not exceeding €271,373,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2022, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, including certain services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain grants…

I do not have any role in the negotiation of service level agreements at HSE level. This is a matter for my colleague, the Minister of Health.

In recognition of the challenge that households are facing at the moment, in particular those on low incomes, a suite of measures was announced on February 10th to assist citizens with rising costs of living.  This package sought to balance targeting the main underlying problem of higher energy prices with the need to operate with the fiscal framework set out in the Summer Economic Statement.  This package, with the energy credit of €100 per household announced late last year, has a value of over half a billion eur…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 87 and 113 together. The Government is aware of the challenge posed to households, particularly those on lower incomes, by the increase in consumer prices in recent months, especially the increase in fuel and other energy prices.  In recognition of this, a suite of measures was announced on February 10th to mitigate the impact of recent inflation on citizens and assist with rising costs of living. This package will build on the measures announced as part of Budget 2022, which includ…

I move: That leave be given by the Dáil to introduce the following Supplementary Estimate for the service of the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2022: Vote 29 — Environment, Climate and Communications ( Supplementary Estimate ).

I thank the Deputy very much for her question and wish the Leas-Cheann Comhairle a good evening. The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the national development plan, NDP, published last October. Our annual capital investment budget as a percentage of national income is now among the largest in the EU. In 2022, almost €12 billion is available to spend on vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action. There are at least 5…

It is important to underline what my role is as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in capital budgets. I am responsible for setting the overall multi-annual capital expenditure ceilings for each ministerial Vote group as set out in the national development plan, NDP, and Project Ireland 2040. We are also responsible for maintaining the national frameworks that Departments operate in to ensure appropriate accounting for, and value for money in, public expenditure, for example, under the public spending code.…

I have been in my current role for the past 20 months. In that time, I have instituted significant reforms in the management and oversight of major public capital investment projects. This has been necessary because we have a record budget this year of approximately €12 billion for the NDP and new procedures are essential. They have been introduced to improve project outturns, avoid cost overruns and avoid schedule delays. The Deputy will be aware that, when it came to putting the major projects advisory group in p…

On 15 February, the Government approved the general scheme of the regulation of lobbying (amendment) Bill 2022. The general scheme has been published and referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach for pre-legislative scrutiny. I have instructed my officials to give the committee whatever support it requires in terms of briefing or clarification in respect of any of the heads of the Bill and I have asked that this issue be prioritised, if at all possible, given the key r…

This is one of the issues we will have to debate and tease out over the course of pre-legislative scrutiny and on Second, Committee and Report Stages of the Bill across the House. It is a question of judgment. It is also a question of what is proportionate, balanced and fair. People do have a right to earn a living having worked previously at senior level in the Civil Service or as a public representative, but it is important that there is a cooling-off period. One of the issues we are seeking to address in the hea…

I acknowledge that change is needed. As Minister, the Deputy will not find me defending a situation where somebody can go from holding a senior position in government one day, exercising important responsibilities, to very shortly afterwards moving to a position where he or she is directly interacting with and lobbying the previous employer. That is not something that should be allowed or can happen. The issue that has been identified is the need to have an appropriate sanction in place and an appropriate penalty. …

I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue for many people across the country. As we emerge from the pandemic and the economy recovers, we are faced with a new set of challenges, including rising energy prices and transitory supply issues that are causing prices to increase. In that context, last October's budget included a range of measures to support citizens with the rising cost of living, including increases to weekly social welfare rates. Targeted measures included increases in the living alone allowanc…

We acknowledge that the current level of inflation is causing real problems for people in their day-to-day lives. We absolutely acknowledge that. When the budget was prepared last October, the forecast for inflation across this year was that it would average about 2.25%. It is now running, as the Deputy knows, at approximately 5% and it is much higher than that for some of the costs that people have to pay every day. That is particularly the case for domestic energy bills and the price at the pumps that the Deputy …

I would make the case that an intervention of more than €500 million outside the budgetary context is not insignificant. That is an important intervention by the Government and almost €400 million of that is going to everyone, in a universal sense, through the electricity credit. Many people are badly in need of that and want to see it applied to their electricity accounts as quickly as possible. We are seeing a strong rebound in the economy. Almost 2.5 million people are now at work in Ireland, which is more than …

I thank the Deputy for her question. As she will be aware, and as set out in my previous responses on this matter, officials from my Department engage on an ongoing basis with their counterparts in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on multiple policy issues, which include the consideration of principles for a higher education staffing agreement. The purpose of such an agreement, once finalised, will be to update the existing employment control framework approach that h…

It is important to say that we are seeing a significant expansion of the number of people working in the higher education sector. The control framework the Deputy referred to is updated annually following the Estimates process. The key driver is what annual budget is agreed for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, which then makes its way down to the higher education institutes. A 4,500 headcount increase, or 18% in six years, is significant. Since 2015 the annual expend…