Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We had a good discussion on these amendments on Committee Stage and I thank my colleagues opposite for placing them on the agenda again this evening. We are of one mind with regard to using, as Deputy Mary Lou MacDonald stated, public contracts as a means of trying to generate employment. As the economy picks up and we get more money into the construction sector, we all have a vested interest in getting more people back to work in the sector, given the fact that 60% of those who lost their jobs in the crash were working directly or indirectly in the construction sector. There is a huge moral responsibility on us to get the people concerned back to work.

We see potential for social clauses to be used in a careful and dedicated way. As colleagues opposite are aware, we must ensure that where we install social clauses, they are compatible with EU legislation. There are grounds on which procurement can be used in terms of social contracts, employment opportunities, equal opportunities and social inclusion, but the European Commission in its guidance on this issue has made it perfectly clear to us and everyone else that this must be done in a very careful way and strictly in accordance with EU principles and the procurement directives.

The Deputy second-guessed my answer; I do not believe it is appropriate to do so in this legislation, but it is right that the issue should be raised because it puts pressure on the Government to ensure we respond to it. I am pleased to be able to inform the House that since our last discussion we now have social clauses in place in Ireland. The most recent announcement made concerns the PPP devolved schools programme which the National Development Finance Agency is managing on behalf of the Department of Education and Science. For the first time in this country, the contract contains social clauses.

I am conscious of what Deputy Mary Lou MacDonald stated on Committee Stage when she referred to what had happened in the North. Social clauses in place in the North have been specific to one project or a group of projects, rather than across the board. We are following exactly the principles on which the Northern Ireland Executive has correctly moved in this direction. We believe that through specifying the use of PPP projects in the area of schools and potentially other areas of public contracts such as for primary health care units we will not only be able to achieve our targets but also that they will be entirely within the context of EU law.

The clause contained in the most recent announcement requires that 10% of the total person-weeks required to complete a project by those employed on a public works construction contract be undertaken by workers recruited from the ranks of the long-term unemployed.

In order to win the most recent bundle of public private partnership schemes on the bundle of schools, those winning contractors will be taking 10% of workers from the live register. That is now happening as a result of the most recent announcement. It is important that it works because other contractors who have lost out will want to make sure it is working. If they have lost out they will want to ensure that the contractor who has won has complied with the 10% requirement.

There is a responsibility on all of the agencies to be on the ground, on site, to ensure that the 10% requirement is in place. We will monitor that closely to make sure that the general support that exists for social clauses across the House is implemented. We have done it in a selective and careful way, not just because of EU requirements but also because we do not want a situation where existing workers within a large construction company or subcontracting firm would have to shed workers from the payroll to take on other people. That would defeat the whole purpose of the measure. We will monitor the pilot scheme that we have now put in place but since our Committee Stage deliberations we have social clauses in this country.

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