Issue 652
Public Affairs Ireland
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Welcome to PAI's weekly newsletter
This week’s update on public sector news featuring?a range of topical updates to include:?Tom Ferris discusses the noteworthy modifications made to the Public Spending Code. PAI will be attending PROCUREX at the RDS. Additionally, a Supreme Court judge raises concerns about the potential for judges and juries to rely too heavily on expert testimony.?it was announced?that there is a?further €17.8 million invested in innovative and novel technologies under Calls 4 and 5 of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund Lastly, Minister Ryan announces the introduction of the third onshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 3).
Significant changes were recently announced for the Public Spending Code. And more changes are on the way. Minister Pascal Donohue shared this information in a recent Press Release. More detailed information appeared on an official circular from his department. That department has now been given the enhanced title of the ‘Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.’ This is primarily to give due emphasis to the importance of the National Development Plan in the development of the Irish Economy. When all the changes planned by Minister Donohue have been made, the approval and roll-out of Public Investment projects will be made under a new set of Infrastructure Guidelines and not under the existing Public Spending Code.??https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/public-spending-code/.
What is the Public Spending Code?
The Public Spending Code was first published in 2013. It set out the roles, procedures, and guidelines to ensure value for money in public expenditure, across the Irish Public Service. The Code brought together in one place all the elements of the value-for-money framework that had been in force, updated and reformed in some respects. The Code applies to all organisations that spend public money. If applied rigorously the Code should indeed support public bodies in improving the accuracy of cost estimation and forecasting, and timely delivery of projects. It should also ensure that risk identification and risk management are strengthened....
Wednesday, May 31st, 2023, 9.30-13.00, Online
Wednesday, April 26th 2023, 9.30am – 4.00pm, Online
PAI will be at?Procurex?in the RDS on 26 April!
Come chat with us
Our stand is located in the Shelbourne Hall T2 in the SME zone.
Looking forward to meeting you all!
8-Day Programme, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 30 May 2023
9.30 am-4.00 pm, Online
13th and 14th June 2023, 9.30am – 4.00pm, Online
Supreme Court judge warns of ‘real danger’ of over-reliance by judges and juries on expert evidence.
Experts should not be given ‘celebrity status’ and courts should not ‘surrender’ to them.
There is a “real danger” of judges and juries becoming so reliant on expert evidence that experts almost become the “deciders” in cases, a Supreme Court judge has warned.
This danger to the process of judicial decision may readily be avoided through the application of the rules constricting and limiting admissibility of expert testimony “but more readily by a proper mindset on the bench”, Mr Justice Peter Charleton said.
He said experts “are not to be afforded a celebrity status but are to be assessed from a distance” and that “no court should surrender to any expert”.
The warning is set out in an article The Safe Use of Expert Evidence, co-authored by the judge with Ivan Rakhmanin, a judicial assistant to the Supreme Court, and published in the latest edition of the Irish Judicial Studies Journal.
Experts, the authors say, are privileged witnesses who can express opinions and may comment on the ultimate issue before the court, “territory beyond the reach of any other testimony”. They can provide invaluable, sometimes “indispensable”, evidence and, without the explanation of science, some cases, such as those involving issues of forensic pathology and psychiatry, would be “impossible” to try...
Thursday 4th?and Friday, 5th?May 2023, 9:30am to 4:00pm, Online
Thursday, May 25th, 2023, 9.30am – 1.00pm, Online
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A further €17.8 million invested in innovative and novel technologies under Calls 4 and 5 of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund bringing total investment from the fund to €306 million
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, and Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary TD, today announced funding for a further five innovative projects under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF). Two projects have been approved funding of up to €9.6 million in the third tranche of awards under DTIF Call 4 and three projects have been approved funding of up to €8.2 million in Call 5 of the Fund. This brings the total allocation of DTIF funding to €306 million, with over €173 million (56%) of the funding awarded to project partners outside of Dublin.
DTIF places a large emphasis on collaboration between enterprises, especially SMEs, and Irish research institutions. All five projects are being led by an SME, who are collaborating with seven other enterprise partners and seven partners from our research institutions. The 91 DTIF projects awarded funding across the five Calls to date contain 340 partners, of which 213 are enterprise partners. The linkages between these SMEs and larger enterprises – especially multinational companies – are crucial in developing ecosystems and mentoring which can help local firms, including High Potential Start Ups (HPSUs), to become embedded in the value chains of FDI-intensive sectors. This will lead to higher domestic value-capture and enable our SMEs and domestic economy to benefit from positive spillovers.
Announcing the two sets of awards under DTIF Calls 4 and 5, the?Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, said:
“I am delighted to be able to announce the funding of three DTIF Call 5 projects and two additional DTIF Call 4 projects. This funding will see almost €18 million shared among the five projects, bringing total Government investment to date across five DTIF calls to €306m. This latest investment will leverage a further €13 million from the enterprise partners, bringing total private sector investment in the 91 projects funded to date to €176 million.?It is noteworthy that over 88% of this investment is by our indigenous SMEs, thereby making a significant contribution to closing the innovation gap with the higher R&D performing foreign owned multinational enterprises.
“The three Call 5 projects are focused on advanced manufacturing, which is crucial for every industrial ecosystem across Europe. Such advanced industrial technologies help to sustain our economic resilience and competitiveness and will also facilitate the shift to a circular economy and a rapid decarbonisation of industry.”?
April 21st, 28th and May 5th, 2023, 9.30am – 4.30pm, Online
7th, 14th and 15th June 2023, 9.30am – 1.00pm
(9.30am-4.00pm on Day 2 and 3), Online
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, has announced details of the third Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 3) auction, which has received government approval.
The?RESS?is an auction-based scheme, which invites renewable electricity projects to bid for capacity and receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate.
Delivery of the third onshore RESS auction is one of the key actions set out in?Climate Action Plan 2023,?launched by the government in December 2022. Climate Action Plan 2023 sets out targets, measures and actions across every sector to ensure that we meet our commitments under the new climate action legislative framework.
The goal of generating 80% of our electricity from renewable energy by the end of the decade will contribute to Ireland's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets by substituting primarily wind and solar electricity generation for fossil fuel electricity generation, as well as displacing emissions in other sectors, for example, through the electrification of car transport and residential heat....
7th, 14th and 21st September 2023, 09:30 am – 4:00 pm
Blended, (Day 1 in person, Days 2 & 3 online)
19th, 20th, 25th and 26th April 2023, 9.30am – 12.30pm each day, Online
Oireachtas Business
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This section gives a detailed schedule of Dáil éireann business
This section gives a detailed schedule of Seanad éireann business.
This section gives a detailed schedule of committee meetings.