I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Order of the Dáil of 29th March, 2023, or in the Order of the Dáil of 20th September, 2023, setting out the rota in which Questions to members of the Government are to be asked, Questions for oral answer, following those next set down to the Minister for Finance shall be set down to Ministers in the following temporary sequence: Minister for Justice Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister for Education Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport…

No.

Hear, hear.

No.

No-----

Yes.

At least they are-----

Shout away. Keep on shouting.

I am happy to take that question as it has only been a few weeks since we published the performance reports of our public services, which laid out for every Vote what the money is being used for and what outputs it delivers to citizens. With regard to the Department of Health, a capital plan is published by the HSE. We also have a Minister for Health, a Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and a chief executive of the HSE who regularly appear before various Oireachtas commi…

I move: That Dáil Éireann recommends, pursuant to section 62C(7) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, that Jane Mulcahy be appointed by the Government to be a member of the Policing Authority.

I have watched it all. I am sure Deputy Boyd Barrett has too.

In line with public financial procedures and public procurement guidelines, it is the responsibility of all public bodies to ensure that they have effective financial management, public procurement and risk management processes in place. This applies to all areas of public spending, including in respect of consulting contracts. The Office of Government Procurement, OGP, in my Department supports procurement compliance by providing procurement solutions, advice, guidance and systems for public bodies. The OGP has al…

Regarding what the Government is doing on the matter, I ask the Deputy to allow me to elaborate further on the general issue of how we protect sensitive information from not only the relationships that we have with consulting companies but, more generally, the overall procurement processes that we have with those who do work on behalf of the State. This is laid out in a number of different areas in the standard template documents that are used to agree contracts. It is contained in the tenderer's statement which co…

As I made clear, this matter is dealt with by each Department in a way that is consistent with the clear legal framework that I outlined. I have no doubt that the consulting arrangements and the relationship the Department of Finance has with consultants will be consistent with the framework that I have just referred to here in the Dáil. If Department of Finance officials had any reason to believe that information they were sharing with any consultant would be used in an inappropriate way, I am absolutely certain t…

The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the national development plan, NDP, published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the European Union. In 2023, almost €12 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action and will provide good outcomes for our people. The national investment office, NIO, in my Department oversees and reports on Government-…

It is not the role of my Department to provide engineers or surveyors in regard to infrastructure projects.

I thought the Deputy asked if we had that available.

I am answering the question, whether it be on the matter of expertise or the personnel themselves. If we had those people, I would then face questions on duplication, given such expertise exists in the National Transport Authority, NTA, and bodies that are delivering large-scale transport infrastructure projects for the State. The role of my Department is an economic one. Our role is to evaluate the business cases for projects above a certain level, for large projects, and to give sanction or to recommend to Govern…

Yes, the expertise is there. However, I emphasise again that it is our role to provide economic expertise and economic sanction for decisions. The Department is organised by Vote teams, and the Vote teams oversee and engage with each individual Department in huge detail. The engagement we have with them is in regard to what their spending plans are in general and, when appropriate, their spending plans by sub-Vote, that is, for individual parts of Departments. While we do have engagement with regard to projects whe…

Between 2015 and 2022, the estimated number of workers within our public sector increased by almost one fourth, from 302,000 to 377,311. According to the latest data available, by the end of 2022, public service numbers had increased by 3.1% over the numbers at the end of 2021. The public service is a good employer and continues to offer competitive pay and other terms and conditions to attract and retain staff, including flexible working arrangements, pension provision and secure employment. In the case of recruit…