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

Will the Minister clarify who is the contracting party? I have put down several questions recently to line Departments about their role and the role of the OGP in awarding contracts. A line Department will say it is working in consultation with the OGP while the OGP says it is working with the line Department. There is a circular flow with everyone involved but nobody willing to say who is responsible. This is an issue that will have to be sorted out. I do not mind who is responsible as long as somebody is responsible.

It is ironic that we spent years discussing the Construction Contracts Act to ensure contractors would be paid. The Minister dealt with it for years and then fobbed it off to his colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Gerald Nash. However, it is still not implemented which is a shame. The Minister of State was to appoint a panel of adjudication which was to go to the Public Appointments Service. I have been informed he has breached the law by picking a chairman unilaterally without having appointed a panel. I am told this could be subject to difficulties down the road.

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