Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

With the permission of the House, I will share time with Senator Butler.

I welcome the Minister of State and thank Senator Quinn for bringing forward this legislation. I have an interest of sorts to declare. I am involved in the ownership of an auctioneering practice and, as is customary, declare that interest. I also welcome members of the construction industry and its representative organisations who have taken the time to come to listen to the debate in the Visitors Gallery. I congratulate Mr. Seán Gallagher who, as Senator Quinn outlined, made contact with many Members in recent months in order to advance this important issue.

There is nothing with which to disagree in the Bill. The Minister of State has made this clear. We are all in agreement with the main thrust of the Bill. However, some of us would like to make additions to it to give maximum protection. As Senator Twomey said, business is ruthless. It is our responsibility, as legislators, to ensure the necessary, although not the maximum, regulations and guidelines are in place. The fall-out from the construction boom and the downturn has made it clear that the necessary protections of subcontractors are not in place. It is a pity we cannot, with the benefit of hindsight, go back a number of years and put them in place.

The non-payment of subcontractors in the construction sector is a huge issue. It has put many people out of business and we must put measures in place to deal with it. Thousands work in the sector and they are often the last to be paid, if at all. The industry seeks to require contracts to have strict and fair provisions, to ban the use of pay-when-paid clauses and to have enforceable and prompt dispute resolution provisions. That is very reasonable. The Minister of State has mentioned that there will be a consultation process in the next period. Senator Quinn, representatives of the industry and the rest of us can have an input to that process which I hope will be limited to a defined period of time. I hope we will not have a lengthy period of consultation in which report will follow report and action will fall behind. I hope the Minister of State will limit the consultation process to a period of five months and that we will be back here after that time with a wider Bill or an extension to the provisions outlined by Senator Quinn.

The Construction Industry Federation, CIF, is of the opinion that the Bill does not go far enough. The United Kingdom Construction Contracts Act 2002 would form a good template which we might examine before we make the necessary improvements to the Bill. I know the UK legislation allows adjudication to happen very quickly. Some 18,000 cases have gone to adjudication in the United Kingdom and only 300 have ended up in the courts. This proves that the process is a good one.

We all want to see the introduction of a right to payment by instalment, except for projects shorter than one month or thereabouts. We would also like to see the introduction of a statutory requirement for agreement on the days on which payments, including final payments, will fall due, default periods such as five and 17 days, respectively, as well as the prohibition of payment conditions conditional on receipt of payment from others. A wide variety of people, apart from subcontractors, are affected by this. Other service providers such as architects and auctioneers are affected by delayed payments or non-payment.

I worry that some items have been left out of the Bill. What is the position on receiverships and liquidations? Who takes less? One hears of many receiverships and liquidations throughout the country where a financial institution takes control and appoints a receiver. He or she then values the company at today's price level and the bank liquidates it and takes the current market value. In that instance, how can we ensure sub-contractors will be paid the maximum amount when the financial institution in question might be recovering less than 40% of their own interest? That area needs further work, perhaps by the Attorney General. As the Minister of State said, quite a few Departments would have to take a view on the Bill.

There is nothing to oppose in the Bill. I salute the initiative of Senator Quinn, Mr. Seán Gallagher and others in the CIF and other representative organisations. I wish we, as legislators, had taken the initiative a few years ago before the current difficulties arose. Notwithstanding that, I commend the efforts of all those involved. I support the Government amendment and hope we, on this side of the House, can be true to our word and be back here within five months.