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

When a contract is awarded, a schedule of payments by the State to the main contractor is agreed. The contractor then receives those payments as the work is done and he or she in turn pays the subcontractors. I know what the Deputy is getting at, but I do not see the significance of this. When I read this again last night one of the first thoughts that came to mind was that it is part of a public authority's contract to make payments on the basis of staged payments. I do not know if information could be made available through its website that it had paid people. The State makes payments and it is pretty good at paying. As long as we get the money from the outsiders, we can keep writing the cheques. I do not know how this proposal would help in that respect. It would set up a dichotomy between public authorities and private individuals and companies who equally procure construction contracts.