Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am even more puzzled now as to why we had contracts relating to drilling and extraction of oil included in the Bill and the Minister of State has chosen to remove them, but what we thought was germane and essential to the Bill – people supplying quarried material, concrete materials and items fundamental to the construction of the project at hand - cannot be covered. The legislation is seriously deficient. All the complaints I have received, on which I spoke at length on Second Stage, related to people who supplied tarmacadam, quarried material, ready-mix concrete and other such materials and they cannot get paid because their materials were bespoke and specific to the particular projects. The products cannot be removed if the supplier is not paid. What is the purpose of the legislation if it does not cover some of the people most affected? While I accept tradesmen and those working on construction contracts must also be paid, what is the purpose of the legislation if a person who supplied quarried material, aggregate, ready-mix concrete and tarmacadam get no protection whatever under the legislation? I do not understand the purpose of the legislation.