Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much agree with what Deputy Creed said. In fairness to Senator Quinn, the whole objective of the Bill was to help the small guy to ensure he had some rights in this and that.

Through adjudication, there would be a low cost, or no cost, and a straightforward way of achieving fairness.

As I understand it, thresholds were initially set high because the original Bill contained financial security provisions. These were removed in the Seanad because accessing financial security in the first instance would become prohibitive. When they were removed, we saw that we could do something with the thresholds.

Reverting to Deputy Fleming's point, we will not overcomplicate matters. If the total size of the contract is more than €10,000, it is fine. Using his example of the architect, the important issue in terms of the law is the total size of the contract. The adjudication procedure under the Bill would apply in the circumstances set out by the Deputy. When the Bill is in place, it will improve the contracting arrangements between subcontractors and main contractors in that it will make the lines of responsibility clearer. This is an example of where legislation will lead to a positive alteration in an industry. I welcome the comments about thresholds, which were identified as a key issue by the regulatory impact assessment. We have moved. Deputy Fleming stated that some people would assert that €10,000 was too little, but I was determined to set it at that level on reflection after Second Stage.