Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is good to have him here. I have a couple of points on the contractors and assignment of contracts. We had problems in Border counties with contractors doing work for the councils over the past number of years and not paying subcontractors. We must be very careful that this does not happen. When the Minister, Deputy Hogan, was here the last day, it was mentioned that subcontractors must have a turnover of ¤400,000, which is quite significant. There are some small subcontractors that would be well capable of doing the work but do not have the ¤400,000 turnover. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, indicated that one or two subcontractors could come together and be in a position to provide the service. We should keep that in mind.