Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I respect that Mr. Walsh cannot get into the details of this. A project is sadly under way and many people will lose jobs. I met some Roadbridge employees. It is a major employer in the mid-west. Workers are trying to bring back machinery from places as far away as the Scottish Highlands, where it had contract work. After we discuss its immediate needs, it is looking at redundancy and where it will position itself next. There has to be a discussion about how it got to this point. Its answer, which is perhaps applicable to all public capital work projects, is that costs were spiralling. The fuel costs on one project alone had increased by €5 million for a three or four-year build. It said this was unsustainable. It commits to rigid contracts, with penalties for being late and all sorts of overspends. One employee said that it is Roadbridge today and it will be another contractor next month. Given the inflation of aggregate costs of construction, material and fuel, have TII and the Department of Transport looked at this? Are they concerned that other contractors may fall in the same way that Roadbridge has?