Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)

If some people want to label themselves as correspondents and belong there rather than in public office, that is good for them, but it is welcome to see a worker coming into this House. He has now left, but it is welcome that he was here to listen to the debate. It is nice to see people doing what they are supposed to be doing. I welcome the Senator's excellent work during the years and thank him for his contribution to political life on many other issues.

My problem with the Bill is that we need to re-examine the €200,000 limit and think at all times of the small business operator. I am not here to speak for the big contractors but for the small operators who have a van or truck and a couple of machines. These are the people who are under severe threat and have built their businesses from an early age. There is nothing worse for a person than to have worked hard all of his or her life and then to see it all crumble because others are not paying what they rightfully owe. They are running off with that person's money. That is what is happening. It is robbery and blackguardism and should not be allowed to happen. No Minister wants to see that carry-on. Everybody in this House wants to see fair play for ordinary workers and if changes need to be made to the Bill and if the Minister can make them, I would really appreciate it.

I do not want to see more small businesses go to the wall, as has happened in the last few years owing to unrealistic pricing and people going in below cost. Below cost selling is not allowed in shops anymore; surely therefore there should be some provision whereby a person cannot price below cost for a project, particularly a public project. This should not be allowed. It does not make sense because somebody will not be paid. If a contractor goes below the level of the cost of a job, somebody will be burned. That usually happens towards the end. The blocklayer or the person digging the foundations might be all right, but those coming in at the end of the job such as those who lay the tarmac are in grave danger. God help the painter and the man who puts in the windows because they are some of the last in and will also be the last to be paid. I hope tsome provisions can be made to ensure this will not happen anymore. We want to protect small business operators and ensure they will be there for better days if they come; please God, they will.

Mr. Harrington's business which went last Thursday is just an example of the businesses of all the small contractors around the country which are hurting. Some provision will have to be put in place to look after contractors when they fall on hard times. When they present before a community welfare officer to seek assistance, it is not good enough for the CWO to say they have a C2 form and that they cannot be given a payment. I ask the Minister for Social Protection to ensure her Department works on this issue and come ups with something quickly to ensure a speedy payment to such persons who have worked very hard during the years and now find themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I thank all of those involved in this issue. I would also like to go back to Mr. Seán Gallagher who went to Senator Feargal Quinn in the first instance with it. The general election last year delayed passage of the Bill, but it is welcome that it is before us now and that we can make progress on it.

See this speech in context