Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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13. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the procedures put in place by the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, to ensure recipients of State contracts, particularly in the construction sector, fully abide by all relevant laws and regulations including tax, social welfare, and health and safety; if this also applies to subcontractors engaged by the main contractor on State-funded projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40604/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The enforcement of tax, social welfare and employment legislation, as well as health and safety and building control regulations, etc., apply equally to public and private sector contracts. Consequently, it is not for me, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to set out a separate policy for public sector contracts. It is the responsibility of each contracting authority to ensure contracts are awarded to compliant businesses through the standard procedures contained in the procurement process.

The public works contracts make provision for certain contractual remedies where a contractor's or a subcontractor's workers have not been paid in accordance with statutory requirements. The contracts also permit deductions to be made from payments in accordance with the legislation governing taxation. Health and safety legislation is also underlined and enforced throughout the contract enshrining legal requirements as conditions of contract to ensure serious health and safety breaches may be relied on as breach of contract leading to termination.

These are in addition to the remedies contained in law which are enforced by the appropriate statutory bodies which possess the necessary powers to investigate and to bring proceedings.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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As to who is responsible, the contracting body, if it is an agency or a Department, is the contractor. Obviously, they are aided and guided by the new OGP. It sets out overarching frameworks to ensure European and domestic laws are fully applied. Any contract is with the contracting party, which is the agency or the Department awarding the contract.

Regarding the Construction Contracts Act, I indicated it would not be appropriate for my Department, which is in charge of the OGP, to be the supervisor of contracts and yet the referee in disputes. That responsibility has moved to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. I will talk to my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, to check about its status, which the Deputy raised again. I would be anxious, like him, that this Act will be fully operational. It started off as a Private Members’ Bill in the Seanad and it needs to be brought into force.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Some contracts are given to contractors outside the State which means there is a greater risk trying to ensuring compliance. What about a case where, say, an IT contract is given to a contractor in the State but it decides to outsource it to another EU country or even outside of the EU? What kind of mechanisms are in place to follow through with the OGP, in consultation with the relevant line Department, to ensure all appropriate laws are implemented in such contracts?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Any contractor on site in Ireland is subject to all the normal health and safety, taxation and other laws that apply. The agencies that supervise these contractors have full access to them and ensure compliance with these laws. There is no difference between a contractor sited and registered in the State and a contractor who happens to be outside of the State in terms of their legal responsibilities or the capacity of the oversight bodies to ensure these contractors fully comply with statutory provisions.