Mr. Fred Barry:

It is a big issue and it is one that neither we nor the industry has cracked. The contractual relationships are such that we are obliged to pay and, as the State, will certainly pay all our obligations and I am sure we will pay them in a timely fashion. The issue is what happens in the different layers below that. As the client we cannot follow the money from the contractor, to whom we pay it, through the contractor's commercial arrangements all the way down. The different tiers of contractor will never say they are not paying the guy below them. They will say they do not owe him the money for some reason. Sometimes the reason is genuine and sometimes it is made up. We do not have a good way of ensuring there is fair treatment the whole way down the line through the different levels of contracting. I encountered this with the National Roads Authority, NRA.