Dublin is the city of gigs at the moment. I compliment our local authorities, the National Transport Authority and Dublin Bus for the work that is happening. I was in Marlay Park last Saturday night. I saw the organisation engaged in by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to facilitate people to get in and out of Marlay Park. This coming weekend, Marlay Park will be busy again. Croke Park will be busy too. While I know that a few people are always discommoded or unable to travel in the way they want, I am confide…

Oh my God.

Yes.

I move the following Revised Estimates: Vote 23 — An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Revised Estimate) That a sum not exceeding €11,719,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2024, for the salaries and expenses of An Coimisiún Toghcháin. Vote 16 — Tailte Éireann (Further Revised Estimate) That a sum not exceeding €85,637,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of Decembe…

So the Deputy is for immigrants now.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important debate in the Dáil, outline my views on the pact and why I am supporting it and respond to some of the claims I have heard about the pact during this debate. It is very easy, when discussing something that can be technical at times and involves the movement of many people, to lose sight of the human face of this issue and the human stories that should illuminate our ability to discuss very complex policy issues like this. I have experienced a number of human…

That comment is below the Deputy.

I move the following Revised Estimates: Vote 1 — President’s Establishment (Revised Estimate). That a sum not exceeding €5,260,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2024, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Secretary General to the President, for certain other expenses of the President's Establishment and for certain grants. Vote 2 — Department of the Taoiseach (Revised Estimate). That a sum not exceeding €37,920,0…

I move: That, notwithstanding Standing Order 215 of the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business or the Resolution of the Dáil of 13th December, 2023, the following Further Revised Estimates for Public Services for the year ending 31st December, 2024, be presented to the Dáil on 29th May, 2024, being a date later than that prescribed for the presentation of Estimates: Vote 16 — Tailte Éireann ( Further Revised Estimate ). Vote 29 — Environment, Climate and Communications ( Further Revised Estimat…

Yes, absolutely

Why is the Deputy shouting? We can hear him.

The Deputy does not want to hear the response.

I thank the Deputy for the question. In the period since 2020, the Government has had to negotiate a number of exceptional challenges, from Brexit to the Covid pandemic to the war in Ukraine and the subsequent impact on energy prices. All of these challenges required a response from the Government which had significant cost implications for the Exchequer. As a matter of policy it was decided to separate funding to address these challenges from the day-to-day costs of Departments. The funding for these external chal…

This is something I and the Minister for Finance are considering at the moment. With regard to the charge, if that had been made, about the presentation of the budget and the policy content of it, we are one of a small group of countries in the European Union that has a surplus. Budget policy has evidently not contributed to the growth of inflation in our economy. The rate of expenditure growth in our economy in recent years has been either in line with or, in many cases, significantly below the rate of inflation o…

I differ from the Deputy on the point he has made regarding the value of the non-core expenditure framework. The reason for this is if we look at where we have been with non-core spending the reason it was allocated differently is we wanted to avoid the risk of the spending becoming permanent and being embedded in how we spend our country's money at a time in which the emergency that required the spending of that money had moderated. The biggest items of non-core expenditure are either gone or reduced. I look back …

The Deputy makes reference to the 2020 programme for Government. That did indeed lay out the commitment to reform and consolidate the ethics in public office legislation and, as she will be aware, my Department carried out a comprehensive review of the statutory framework as a first step in meeting this commitment. The review’s report was submitted to Government in December 2022 and published in February 2023, and the Government agreed to the preparation of draft legislation to reform the regime informed by the rev…

I believe that is achievable. In terms of the timelines for the heads of the Bill, I have some final work that I aim to do on it. At the latest, I aim to bring the heads of the Bill to the Government over a short number of months. That is what I am aiming to do. I accept the urgency on this and am committed to getting this piece of work done.

The Deputy cannot have it both ways. She cannot on the one hand say there is a need to maintain standards in public office and then make insinuations about my intentions. She cannot have it both ways. I appreciate the urgency of this legislation. It is something my Department is taking very seriously and I am committed to trying to get the heads of the Bill----

----completed, bringing the heads of the Bill to Government and commencing the legislative process in relation to it. As I said, the Deputy cannot have it both ways. She cannot say there is a need to stand up for standards in public office and then in the same breath insinuate that there are some kind of ulterior motives regarding where the Bill stands.

The majority of public servants recruited before 6 April 1995 pay class B or class D PRSI. This cohort of staff has no entitlement to social insurance benefits such as jobseeker’s benefit, the State pension contributory, SPC, or illness benefit. Their occupational pension and lump sum forms the entirety of their pension benefit from the public service. For all new entrants to the public service on or after 6 April 1995, the date of the introduction of full social insurance for public servants who now pay class A PR…