Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the office of the Ceann Comhairle for giving all of the Deputies present the opportunity to debate this matter. I called for this debate last week and I am glad that it is happening as it is necessary.

When Carillion finally went bust - it should be noted that many financial investors were shortening the company for quite some time, so worried were they about its financial performance - I issued a statement almost immediately asking the Minister for Education and Skills to clarify the position on the schools involved. The schools are St. Philomena's in Bray, Coláiste Ráithín in Bray, the Carlow Institute of Further Education and Tyndall College in Carlow, Loreto College in Wexford and Eureka secondary school in Kells in my constituency. The Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, has many constituents who attend the latter school. He was certainly involved with all of us in working towards its development.

Two weeks ago, when I made my statement, the Minister said he was confident that the schools would not be affected by the collapse of Carillion. A very simplistic answer was given to a question that others and I had raised about what was a complex set of circumstances. When the Minister said he was confident that the matter would be sorted, I took it in good faith and accepted it. It turns out that he can no longer be confident because the schools are idle and empty and, in general, being guarded by security guards. In some cases, subcontractors and suppliers are taking goods out of them. That is the case all around the country.

There are subcontractors throughout the country who have been very badly affected by the collapse and not been paid.

One company in Kells, which I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy English, knows, is currently owed €62,000. It is a small company depending on such business and it thought this project would be a good thing but it has not been. Will the Minister meet the suppliers as well as making every effort to ensure the situation is resolved as soon as possible? We have two minutes each and that is sufficient because there are so many of us. I am grateful to you, a Cheann Comhairle.

See this speech in context