Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 4, before section 3, to insert the following new section:

3.—(1) A contract is not a construction contract—

(a) if one or more than one of the parties to the contract is a state contracting entity and the value of the contract is not more than €50,000,

(b) if the value of the contract is more than €200,000, and—

(i) the contract relates only to a dwelling, and

(ii) the dwelling has a floor area not greater than 200 square metres, and

(iii) one of the parties to the contract is a person who occupies, or intends to occupy, the dwelling as his or her residence,or

(c) in any other case, where the value of the contract is not more than €200,000.

(2) A contract of employment (within the meaning of the Organisation of

Working Time Act 1997) is not a construction contract.

(3) A contract between a State authority and its partner in a public private partnership arrangement, as those terms are defined in the State Authorities (Public Private Partnership Arrangements) Act 2002, is not a construction contract.

(4) Where a contract contains provisions in relation to activities other than those referred to in the definition of construction contract and section 2(2), it is a construction contract only so far as it relates to those activities.

(5) This Act applies to a construction contract whether or not—

(a) the law of the State is otherwise the applicable law in relation to the construction contract, or

(b) the parties to the construction contract purport to limit or exclude its application.".

Amendment No. 2 concerns the scope and application of the Bill. It excludes certain contracts from the definition of "construction contract". It ensures the Bill will not apply to contracts whose values are below certain thresholds.

It also ensures that in the normal course the Bill would not apply to an ordinary individual who enters a contract for the building, extension or renovation of his or her home. He or she will not be required to comply with the new rules set out in the Bill. However, the amendment tries to ensure that contracts concerning so-called " trophy homes" come within the scope of the Bill. We must examine this to see how it applies.

Amendment No. 3 sets out new rules to govern payments under construction contracts and this is a core feature of the Bill. Under the amendment, all construction contracts will have to provide clearly for interim and final payments and for the sums due in each case. The contract will have to set out clearly when payments of these amounts will fall due. If a contract fails to specify these matters then the terms set out in amendment No. 12 will apply. The amendment also ensures - and this is quite an important part of the Bill which I am very pleased to say will be enforced very successfully - that "pay when paid" clauses will no longer be acceptable in contracts. This means, for example, that subcontractors or sub-subcontractors will no longer be dependent on a main contractor getting paid before they are entitled to receive their payments. This has been a big problem whereby the main contractor states he or she will not pay until after he or she gets paid. We will outlaw this in the legislation.

Amendment No. 12 introduces a new schedule to the Bill and it works together with amendment No. 3. The schedule sets out default arrangements for contract payment terms. These will be minimum standards for subcontracts. This is a major innovation which should especially help subcontractors. These are the three amendments which have been banded together.