Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Nash.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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Tá fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. He is busy as a result of yesterday's budget, so I thank him for attending the House to debate this important issue, which has been raised by Business Retail Union Ireland, BRUI, a group formed by the retail trade and subcontractors in the construction industry to defend their causes.

The Construction Contracts Act was first introduced in this House by my colleague, Senator Quinn, and signed into law by the President in 2013. It is important legislation, providing as it does for enforceable staged payments to subcontractors, removing the possibility of payments being withheld for extended periods of time and establishing an adjudication system to deal with disputes. It is a robust Act but, to date, it has not been commenced.

Dr. Nael Bunni has been appointed as chairperson of the construction contracts adjudication panel and the closing date for applications to the ministerial panel of adjudicators has recently passed. When will the panel will be in place and when will the Act be commenced? Why, after two years, has the code of practice for the conduct of adjudication not yet been finalised and published? May we have a definitive date for its publication, please? As it is five years since the Bill was introduced and two years since it became law, a larger question is why the Government has delayed for so long in removing the administrative impediments to the Act's commencement. Surely, this process could have been initiated immediately after the Act was signed. That it took two full years to appoint a chairman and a panel and to draft a code of practice is nothing short of scandalous.

Sean Barrett (Independent)
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Hear, hear.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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It is particularly scandalous in circumstances where thousands of subcontractors have gone out of business in the wake of the worst downturn in the construction sector that this country has ever seen. Almost one year ago, the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, director general, Mr. Tom Parlon, stated that builders were facing collapse over pay delays and that thousands of those in other trades had suffered hardship.

In view of the gross injustice that was done to these subcontractors by contractors who could not - or more likely would not - pay them, the delay in commencing this Act has been an example of careless government and lackadaisical public administration at their worst. Let us not forget that most subcontractors are themselves employers offering well-paid professional careers to skilled crafts people. These are the kinds of careers that even the most imaginative of activation measures could not create. However, such small businesses have been jeopardised, not just by market forces and payment disputes, but by the inaction of the very Department charged with responsibility for jobs and innovation. The entire situation beggars belief.

Yesterday in the budget, the Government announced a number of positive initiatives for the construction sector, including the extension to the home renovation grant, the increased provision for social housing and measures to assist the self-employed, but what small to medium-sized contractor will take the risk of accepting a job and hiring people to undertake it without the legislative safeguards that the Act provides? This is a case of, while administration differs, small businesses die.

A small number of subcontractors are outside the gates of Leinster House this morning. Many of them employ six or seven people. They are the lifeblood of employment, yet we have let them down badly. The developers have hopped off to the south of Spain or other parts of the world. One subcontractor whom I met outside this morning had been told that the payments he had been awaiting since last April could not be made because of a difficulty with NAMA. That is unacceptable behaviour. From meeting the Minister of State in the House several times, I know that he has a genuine interest in seeing jobs created and secured.It is totally and utterly beyond belief that we have still not taken the steps we need to take to protect these small subcontractors, many of whom have five, six, ten, 20 or 30 people working with them. Contractors I met outside this morning and contractors I have been in contact with over the last few days tell me they will not employ anybody and would be very slow to seek work from some of the developers who are now re-emerging, having spent their time in the limbo of NAMA. I thank the Minister of State.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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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.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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The Minister of State said the closing date in respect of the Public Appointments Service was 18 September. We are almost a month beyond that date. Have interviews taken place or are they about to and is that now the only impediment that exists to the commencement of the legislation? I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State, but he said he took the matter over late last year. As such, it has been almost a year since the Minister of State took the matter over. I appreciate that there are administrative issues, but is there any moratorium in the public service to prevent appointments to the panel?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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No.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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Have the interviews taken place or will they soon and will the Minister of State commence the Act as soon as the panel is in place?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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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.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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We will make the Minister of State drop us a line to let us know.