Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and I acknowledge that he has a record for protecting workers. I know where he comes from politically and I respect that. I welcome the offer to meet Mr. Porfireanu. I will take the Minister of State up on that and make an appointment. We will make it happen.

In respect of the reply he has given me I have two points to make, which I think the Minister of State already sees. This involves the main contractor, namely, P.J. McLoughlin & Sons. The Department is awarding contracts to a main contractor which has left this man short of €15,000 in wages and it has disregarded every State body in respect of that. The Minister of State pointed out the ability to go to the District Court but we have already done that. The sheriff has said she cannot intervene because several companies are registered at the address so she does not know whose property she is taking. We have exhausted the procedures. I have one suggestion which I hope the Department could do as it just means getting it to move slightly and that is to write to the employer asking it to comment on the status of this case. The Minister of State could write from the Department of Education and Skills saying this has been brought to his attention and he would like to understand why this award has not been carried out. Something like that could actually help. I welcome that the Minister of State has offered to work with me on this issue. Let us set up an appointment and see if we can get justice for this man.