Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We can do it and there have been pilot schemes in a couple of areas. The worry is that the contracts will be completed in a year's time, there will be a review of how it has worked out and in four years' time, a mechanism will be put in place. That is how the public service works. I would be happier if there was a contractor on site from a company that monitors projects as they progress. We would be able to say, before contracts have been completed, that we have examined ten major contracts and that this is working, or just needs to be refined. We would not have to wait until the pilot schemes are over, or until we commission a body to carry out a survey and produce a report. We are agreed on this but we have only just dipped our toes in the water. We must take a full dip and do the full job. It is important we do that.

I am blue in the face talking about the Construction Contracts Act, which was passed over two years ago but has not yet commenced. It moved from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, is dealing with it but people cannot agree on who will be the chairman or the arbitrator. It is a way of long-fingering it. Senator Feargal Quinn introduced the Bill in 2011 and it worked its way through the Houses. On budget day two years ago, I asked the Taoiseach when it would be commenced and I did so again last year on budget day and two weeks ago on the Order of Business. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation sent me a letter stating that it is still being worked on and that there is no timescale. The Government needs to get the finger out to protect sub-contractors.

The Government could act immediately in regard to commercial rates. Mechanisms can be put in place by local authorities to encourage commercial development in town centres, which need a boost. The issue of broadband and mobile phone signals needs to be addressed. We can talk about broadband all we like but the village in which I live does not even have an adequate mobile phone signal because the Commission for Communications Regulation is not doing its job and ensuring providers provide a proper service.

Not only do we need a social clause in some of these public contracts, but we need to change the tendering system so that SMEs can be included on the list. If they have not had a significant turnover in previous years, they will not even be eligible to tender for the job.

That must be required, especially for businesses that have a track record but which may not have had cash flow or a high turnover in the past couple of years. Those would be concrete steps to help SMEs.

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