Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Government spending jumps by 54% in five years

Coalition’s latest Medium-Term Expenditure Framework highlights rapid acceleration in expenditure

Move to block official’s reappointment a ‘terrible attack’ on Labour Court’s independence

Deputy chair Alan Haugh says he was twice told by different department his contract would be extended

‘Severe impact’ on Labour Court hearings seen as deputy chairman’s reappointment ‘blocked’

Labour Court tells lawyers Department of Public Expenditure blocked reappointment

School secretaries and caretakers strike: Union agrees to withdraw industrial action and enter talks

Fórsa says ‘key element’ of agreement is a commitment to negotiate comparable pension entitlements to those of teachers and SNAs

‘Worth more than a box of chocolates’: School secretaries and caretakers demand pension parity

Protest marked the first day of an indefinite strike action by more than 2,300 secretaries and 500 caretakers

School secretaries and caretakers begin indefinite strike action over pensions

Rally outside Department expected with 2,000 schools affected

Simon Harris proposed doubling defence spending as ‘step change urgently required’

Simon Harris wanted €3.4bn for radar, armoured vehicles, aircraft and surveillance equipment

‘World order is changing’: Department of Defence argued for substantial funding rise, Harris notes reveal

Department of Public Expenditure’s financial offer would see State’s military capabilities ‘go backwards’

Depicting MetroLink as primarily an airport service is an example of Michael O’Leary’s myopic thinking

Arguments by the Ryanair boss that we should give up on rail solutions and rely on the car and bus make no sense

Taoiseach cracks down on last-minute, ‘under-the-arm’ Cabinet memos from Ministers

Senior official twice warns Government members about timely filings of documents ahead of meetings to meet constitutional principle

Enterprise Ireland sought approval for €300,000 pay package for new chief executive

Enterprise Ireland appointed Jenny Melia as its new CEO in May, with her salary now set at €234,548

OPW spent €17,000 on consultants for committee hearings, more than any other State body

Spending data from 2021 to last month shows OPW spent over €17,000 last year as it faced rolling controversies

Housing Agency raised salary for incoming CEO by over €23,000

Government approved bumping salary from lowest to highest point on Assistant Secretary pay scale on appointment of NTMA’s Martin Whelan

Review completed into Ministers who owe, or are owed, cash due to pension error

‘Inappropriate’ to disclose numbers involved or details regarding those affected, says Department of Public Expenditure

National Development Plan to help Ireland meet climate goals, says Taoiseach

Government notes need to provide backing for development of ‘low-carbon transport projects’, such as MetroLink, before 2030

Fast-track planning to speed up national infrastructure in €200bn plan 

Investment in housing, water and grid infrastructure, defence, prisons and sports facilities planned under NDP

Sex abuse in schools: State accused of ignoring its liability for redress

Louise O’Keeffe, who took State to court over failure to protect her, questioned Government’s guidance on issue

Department of Public Expenditure faces ‘embarrassing’ €700,000 Revenue bill after payroll errors

Issue relates to deductions from retirement benefits of former public service staff with high-value pensions

Long Covid support scheme to end this month, Minister for Health confirms

Labour Court recommends scheme be extended for a further six months

Civil service grows by 50 per cent in last decade

Increase biggest among mid-ranking grades

Ireland needs to ditch empty promises and economic fairy tales and start confronting reality

Official documents seem to exist in some kind of parallel universe, with no expectation that targets can be met

Another week, another war: Trump pivots from America first to talk of a bunker buster

Your essential end-of-week politics catch up: AIB buys back all its shares, while politicians tear strips off Children’s Health Ireland representatives in front of an Oireachtas committee

Minister admonished for bringing ‘substantial’ issues to Cabinet without telling colleagues

Failed Arts Council IT project one of two issues brought to Cabinet ‘under the arm’, senior official said

Micheál Martin and Paschal Donohoe are responsible for this Government’s lethargy

They have power, but seem unwilling to introduce cultural change and fiscal discipline

Semi-state CEOs: What do they earn and should they be paid more?

New Government structures mean many heads of commercial State companies will seek pay packet increase following review

Ireland’s urgent need to overhaul its climate policies laid bare by new projections

Opinion: ‘Yes, scaling is hard to do, so we had better do what we know already works and what we are good at delivering’

Department objected to Government’s ‘housing tsar’ amid concerns over pay and recruitment

McDonagh withdrew from consideration after possibility he might retain €430,000 salary

Chambers refused to back open-ended RTÉ redundancy scheme, documents show

Department of Public Expenditure set out several conditions for voluntary exits at broadcaster

Minister set to push for extension of artists’ income scheme

About 2,000 artists have been allocated €325 a week in pilot funding since 2022

‘Lowballing’ for big public projects to be tackled by new Dáil infrastructure committee

Seán Fleming says practice undermines public confidence, as actual cost of projects is a multiple of estimate

AI in Irish civil service: Major differences in how Government departments approach issue, survey shows

Some embracing artificial intelligence and others avoiding its use, at least for now

Prison service negotiated with bishop rather than unions on new pay structure for chaplains

Two-tier remuneration system for those appointed before and after 2015 should be ended, arbitration board rules

Castletown House: Vandals cause more than €500,000 of damage amid dispute over right-of-way access

Campaigners who want the full opening of access to Castletown House in Kildare are shocked at alarming turn of events

Sinn Féin accuses Government of misleading public over ‘additional’ Uisce Éireann funding

€1bn allocation did not provide any further funding, utility‘s chair told former minister

Housing crisis: Proposals to boost LDA’s remit under consideration to boost housing output

Government considering steps to allow Land Development Agency to build more private housing at its projects

Curb education ‘overspending’ before lowering class sizes, officials warn

More than 50,000 pupils are in ‘supersized’ classes with 30 children or more

Officials warned of ‘uncertainty’ in housing completions outlook

Internal Department of Housing report set out 10 selected 2024 forecasts, with all but two below 40,000

There is one risk to Ireland’s future progress that dwarfs even pandemics, terrorism and tariffs

The ‘hidden curriculum’ of nod and wink in the civil service leads to widespread disregard for public money

Planned ban on Airbnb-type lettings in rural communities prompts concern

Tourism sector critical to jobs and economic growth in many rural regions, department notes

RTÉ’s voluntary redundancy scheme approved by Government

Programme that could see up to 400 staff leave the broadcaster RTÉ was held up by requests for more information about terms

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