Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The contractors of whom the Senator speaks will be in a position to benefit from the legislation very soon. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak in the House on the subject of the implementation of the Construction Contracts Act 2013. I assure the Senator that I am taking all steps necessary to bring about the implementation of the Act as soon as possible, following the Government decision late last year to assign responsibility for the Act to me as Minister of State with responsibility for business and employment. This innovative legislation, which was introduced in the House by our colleague, Senator Feargal Quinn, aims to ensure prompt payment practices throughout the construction industry but the commencement of the Act depends on a number of factors set out therein, including the appointment of a chairperson and panel of adjudicators.

I am pleased to inform the Senator that significant progress has been made to date on the matters and I appointed Dr. Nael Bunni as chairperson of the construction contracts adjudication panel a short matter of months after I received formal responsibility for the Act. I considered that the person appointed to the role of chairperson should be exceptionally well qualified and I was delighted that Dr. Bunni accepted the position. He is widely respected and has extensive experience of dispute resolution in the construction industry, both in Ireland and internationally. At my request, the Public Appointments Service is conducting an open competitive process for the selection of the members of the panel of adjudicators as the Senator will agree should be the case. The closing date for applications was 18 September. I will appoint suitably-qualified candidates to the panel as soon as is practicable following the completion of the assessment process by the Public Appointments Service.

I am also reviewing a draft code of practice for the conduct of adjudications, which is required under the legislation. It will be finalised after consultations with the relevant stakeholders in which regard we are making good progress. Once these preparatory arrangements have been completed, a date for implementation of the Act will be announced in advance in order to provide sufficient notice to those affected by its provisions. While I am not in a position to give a commencement date in advance of the completion of the steps to which I have referred, I am committed to implementing this ground-breaking legislation for the benefit of all stakeholders in the construction industry at the earliest opportunity. There is a secretariat and officials in place in my Department who are responsible for the construction contracts authority. We set the system up a few months ago and the officials are working very hard to get this moving in the right direction. I am confident the operation will be up and running very shortly.