Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The NDFA holds the aces given that this company will get €264.5 million from the State, but it has not got a penny yet and the law says that the subcontractors must sign off on their own work. The NDFA must not facilitate the company in anything other than ensuring the subcontractors get paid. The NDFA holds the aces. The agency has to sign off on it. It will authorise the cheques of more than a quarter of a billion euro to this company. The company has a lot to lose. What we done over recent weeks in a rush to get the schools open, and I can understand the priority in that regard, is not the appropriate way to do it. We need to get the schools open, but we need to do it in such a way that, when the ribbons are cut in those schools, we can be proud that our children are running into schools that have been paid for by the people who put effort, time, sweat and energy into delivering world-class infrastructure. That is the priority and that is the challenge.