Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)

The last time I raised this issue with the Minister, he asked that I forward the evidence I had available, which I did. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, asked that I do the same and I also forwarded it to him and the regulator. I am not certain that enough attention has been given to the safety aspect of the matter. The Minister has mentioned that the issues I have raised date back ten years; some of them do, but I refer, in particular, to issues which arose in 2008 and 2009. In 2008 Balfour Beatty was fined £2.25 million sterling after it had been charged by the British Serious Fraud Squad and found guilty of false accounting. In 2009 it was fined £5.2 million sterling by the Office of Fair Trading for engaging in corrupt practices in securing construction contracts.

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