Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The reason CAS was chosen as the body to carry out these random audits is that it has the expertise, including significant forensic accounting expertise, to determine whether labour law is being complied with on these various sites. So far, CAS has completed 16 random audits on school and college construction sites, with one audit ongoing. As a result of those audits, information in regard to five projects have been referred to the Revenue Commissioners, one to the Department of social protection and one to NERA. Again, these are the entities with the legislative backing and the expertise to take any action required in terms of punishment or sanction for the contractors concerned.

The Deputy will appreciate that while I am happy that the vast majority of building contractors are compliant with their obligations under the public works contract, the Department is also keen to ensure building contractors operating legitimately are protected while those who seek to avoid their obligations under the terms of the public works contracts will be reported to the statutory agencies and penalised, where appropriate. We have within the machinery of the State significant expertise and significant sanctions to be able to take action in instances where such transgressions take place. We are proactively addressing the issues raised by whistleblowers through CAS architecture.

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