Ms Tina Walsh:

I am the financial director of Peter Walsh & Sons Limited, which is a manufacturer of premium educational furniture for colleges and educational institutes throughout the country. We have been in business for more than 60 years. We supplied schools bundle 5 and parts of schools bundles 3 and 4. Out of those five schools bundle projects, 40% or two out of five have failed, which is a high failure rate. Approximately 12 schools in total have been affected. PPP schools have been run by facility management companies for 20 years, which replace furniture that is damaged, including table-tops, replacement feet, chairs and so on. The schools under these schemes have lost all control over the management of their own schools, to the extent that the caretaker cannot even change a light bulb, and the principal cannot update his furniture to suit the latest methods of teaching which are standard in other European countries, such as group work and other methods. I can speak only on my own behalf as a school furniture manufacturer.

We furnish seven to ten new school builds on average annually, and we also look after existing customers. In the 33 years of business that we have run it ourselves, we have never experienced anything like this. At this time, we are owed €250,000. In layman's terms, this is approximately €1 million's worth of work to cover the costs. This has a knock-on effect. We work on a 30-day credit term with both customers and suppliers. As one can imagine, this puts a financial strain on our company. We have been waiting for nine months for payment for furniture that is in schools. We have been told through the media that these schools will open in September. How? They have furniture from our company that has not been paid for. That is not right and it will not happen.

We received liquidation letters from companies involved which clearly state the first creditor to be paid will be Revenue, the Government body. The mistake was not ours as the subcontractors. We, as subcontractors, should be paid first, before the Government bodies, because the error was not ours. It always seems to be the small man who carries the can. We are a small company which has to do due diligence on all customers and suppliers alike. Who has done due diligence on the companies in question, if any due diligence was done? We have signed no contracts with the companies involved. This furniture was supplied on an order-invoice basis. All invoices clearly state goods do not pass until invoices have been paid in full. We were told we cannot access these buildings to reclaim our furniture, which has not been paid for, because we would be trespassing and would be held in contempt. One can imagine how surprised we were when we heard the schools will open in September with furniture that has not been paid for. The Department of Education and Skills has washed its hands of this until the schools are completed. It must be resolved, and the Department needs to become involved.