Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Any time we have this conversation, it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge the extraordinary work achieved by the Department under the direction of the Minister and her predecessor. When we came into government, priority was given to replace prefabs and start building projects. With previous Administrations, while houses were built at every crossroads, they did not invest in school accommodation for our children. The work done by the Government is worthy and needs to be recognised. In my constituency, the schools infrastructure in towns such as Clonakilty has been utterly transformed in the Government’s lifetime. I wholeheartedly welcome this significant investment in our children’s futures.

Unfortunately, there is an issue around subcontractors for schools building projects not being paid by main contractors. On Monday, I spoke with a subcontractor who mentioned some well-known construction firms getting moneys from the Department for school works but not paying their subcontractors. It is probably down to tight tenders. Often, it is those first on site who will be paid but landscapers and the finishers on a project are not paid. That is how these main contractors are getting the edge over their competitors. The Department needs to be mindful of this and more needs to be done to protect subcontractors from getting burnt by some of the large contractors. The Department needs to remember that the cheapest quote for a schools building project might not be the most realistic and the only way the main contractor can come in at that price is by burning subcontractors. It is a despicable practice which we must condemn and we need to work hard to ensure it does not happen.

Another issue which I raised several times with the Minister’s predecessor is where suppliers of goods and services have not been paid by school boards of management with moneys from devolved grants. While the devolved grants are suitable from the Department’s perspective, as a school principal I know it is an extraordinary task to go through design and planning. For many principals it is a difficult journey and they are not qualified in that area. I had a case recently where €74,000 was allocated by the Department for the provision of accommodation for a school but it was never paid to the supplier by the school’s board of management. The Department must ensure the moneys given for a specific purpose are spent accordingly. While I accept boards of management do not come under the Minister’s remit and are a closed shop, there have been some cases where moneys from the Department have been misappropriated. The Department must be made aware of this and put structures in place to ensure better accountability with boards of management for moneys devolved to them.