Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am talking about workers in the construction industry. That side of the whole process is in chaos at the moment. As the Minister is aware, the instability arose from the Supreme Court decision in 2013 on registered employment agreements, REAs. Currently, there are widespread abuses within the construction industry in terms of the National Minimum Wage Act, relevant contracts tax, RCT, and pay and conditions, among other areas. That is creating enormous tensions for employers who are doing the right thing and therefore operating on an uneven playing field and workers who are trying to do the right thing. On the other side, one has unscrupulous employers and problems with RCT. The Government is failing to ensure compliance.

Contracts for public works contain measures relating to rates of pay and conditions of employment certificates. If compliance was sought and the certificates were properly regulated it would significantly resolve some of the disasters that are currently taking place. Men and women within the construction industry currently earn far less than the minimum wage. Those individuals are being supplanted every week in this country. One example I have brought to the attention of the Minister is that of the Kishoge community college site. If J.J. Rhatigan is involved in that type of practice at the Kishoge site, there is no doubt it must be happening in the large number of other sites on which he currently has building contracts from the Department of Education and Science.

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