Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It goes to a much wider issue in terms of procurement and the ability of public bodies, whether local authorities or otherwise, to assess the track record of companies when making decisions. I know of situations where the bond that had been secured was of a value much less than the value of the outstanding works, and the developers just walked away and said, “Keep the bond”, which resulted in a large bill for local authorities. Yet, the same developers at the same time would have planning applications in for a new development, and one part of the body could not take into account the fact this was clearly an entity that had failed to live up to its commitments. In terms of our work and how it relates to the Committee of Public Accounts, it is in regard to those issues of how we can make propositions that better allow one public body, or one section of a public body, to take into account a company's previous track record with regard to these issues.