Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I meet quarterly with the Construction Industry Federation to ask it how things are going. My understanding is that it is happy and satisfied and is not looking for changes to what was brought in in the inflation co-operation framework. When a new capital works contract is taken out, the various sub-indices of inflation are agreed and a risk-sharing arrangement is put in place. If a contract is heavily dependent on the price of wood and concrete, for example, an agreement is made beforehand that if the price goes above a certain level, a certain degree of risk-sharing will take place between the Government and the contractor. The idea of that is to prevent a situation arising where it is not worthwhile for the contractor to complete the project. Situations arose where there would be a large housing project and the builders could legitimately come back, open their books and say they would lose money on it if they completed it, or go bust. To avoid that, there has to be a degree of risk-sharing. They have to take that on, they understand that, with their financing. However, there also has to be some risk taken on by the contractor and the Government.

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