Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are many issues at play here, and we can only scratch at them at the moment. The problems in the construction industry in Ireland reflect poorly on this Government, the previous Government and the Government before that. Nothing is being done about the problems that prevail. How in God's name did one company get so much State work? I would love to know that. What kind of connections does it have? If a company tenders for work in this country one of the first things it will be asked about is its turnover. It is not asked how good its building record is, but rather how big the company is. Big is considered best. I can tell the Minister that the majority of bad work in this country is done by bigger entities, not smaller ones. That is a fact. However, the Government is wedded to the financial end of things. When my company started, the rule was that unless we had completed a contract of a particular size we could not tender for work. It is absolute nonsense.

There is some confusion about the role of the clerk of works. In a design and build scenario, if there is a clerk of work on site who sees that concrete is about to be poured but the steel is a size smaller than what it is supposed to be - for example, 25 mm instead of 32 mm - the contractor should take responsibility for that. The Minister is correct that responsibility lies 100% with the contractor. It is not the clerk of work's fault because he or she does not actually have the power to stop such work progressing under DBO-type contracts. The situation is crazy. It is not a good idea. DBOs create huge problems, in the same way that public-private partnerships, PPPs, create problems. It is so blatantly obvious that there are many problems around how the Government is doing things. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why nobody gives a bollocks. Why is there no desire to change this, or to address the inherent problems that have been there for years? These problems can be fixed, and things can be done differently.

A guy from my office pulled out an article this morning which dated from October 2015. It reads: "Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan confirmed she is currently arranging the safety checks on [some] facilities built by Western Building System, which has constructed 26 schools for the State since 2008, after ... chronic problems [were exposed]". In 2014 and 2015 the same company was awarded contracts to build more schools by the same Government. Why would a company that had proved itself to be doing poor work be given more work? Can the Minister answer that question? Why does a company that has a poor track record get more work? I do not understand that. It does not make any sense. Does the standard of building matter or are one's connections and the size of the company the only things that matter? Since I became a TD in 2011 regulations have decreased. The Minister spoke about an 18% increase in the cost of building. He is correct, but that increase relates entirely to paperwork. None of it concerns better regulation or better supervision, inspection or oversight. It is all paperwork, and it is absolute nonsense.

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