Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is about getting it right. Persons who may be considered for appointment to the panel of adjudicators must be registered professionals as defined in section 2 of the Building Control Act. They may be a chartered member of the Institute of Engineers, a barrister or solicitor, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators or a person with a qualification equivalent to any of those categories duly obtained in any other member state of the EU. There has been significant interest in this area.

The Public Appointments Service is an independent body set up to deal with issues like this and I have asked it to run the process in an open and transparent fashion. We have not yet decided the exact number of people who will be on the panel. It will be based on the outcome of the PAS competition and with the input of the chair of the construction contracts authority. Given the very technical nature of the work it will be doing, the authority will have a very key role in terms of the selection of people with relevant qualifications, experience and expertise. People with practical experience in the industry will be needed because it is a very technical area.

When the legislation is fully commenced and the body is up and running, it will be a huge boon to the people Senator Craughwell and I are concerned about. They have been operating under very difficult circumstances. We took Senator Quinn's Bill and I think we have improved it. I only took responsibility for this a short time ago having actively sought that responsibility because of my interest in this area. It is properly accommodated in my Department given its experience and that of its agencies in terms of running bodies like this in the public interest. I expect to see this up and running very shortly, albeit I cannot give an exact commencement date because this is about getting it right rather than the timing. I appreciate, however, that each day that goes by is of concern to subcontractors in particular about when it will be initiated. It will be up and running very soon indeed. We have provided resources in last year's Estimates for a budget for the construction contracts service and have done so this year also. People will be very happy with the system when it is up and running, notwithstanding that I accept they are concerned about delays to date. I took responsibility for this towards the end of last year, appointed Dr. Bunni in July and he is working very closely with the Public Appointments Service and my Department to get this up and running very shortly. We will be finalising the code very shortly also.