Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Hanafin for sharing time with me.

I welcome to the Visitors Gallery the CIF delegation which includes Mr. Sean Gallagher and Mr. Cathal Lee. When I received notification from Mr. Gallagher about this legislation three weeks ago, it was timely because a week prior to that a neighbour of mine who had a plumbing company employing eight people had rung to tell me he had gone out of business because he had not been paid by major contractors. That meant nine families had been put out of commission because of the non-payment of bills. He said two types of people did not pay - the person who could not pay and the person who could but would not pay. He had applied for social welfare but was entitled to nothing. The community welfare officer gives him a few euro every week. He has fallen into bad health in the meantime, mentally and otherwise, and does not go outside the door. This highlights the knock-on effects of the failure to pay subcontractors. The man to whom I refer was not able to pay his suppliers and so on.

I thank Senator Quinn for introducing the Bill. He makes a good job of anything he tackles. I take on board Deputy Alex White's comment that implementation is the key issue when it comes to legislation. If it cannot be done, passing it is a useless exercise. We should also examine the issue he raised about sanctions. We should not rush the legislation, as there are many other issues which we do not have time to discuss. The Bill is straightforward and I support it because it will make life much easier for the small player and ensure people will be treated in a respectable and decent way.

We should liaise with the CIF, as we could have a good discussion on the construction industry. It would be useful to exchange views on a regular basis. Given the overheads that pertain to the construction industry, these are matters as well that must be looked at to enable people in that business to stay afloat. These are all the issues and I believe we should have a programme to address these in future. We could meet on a regular basis, as I have said, to discuss all these issues.