Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 185: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the date on which the amended Construction Contracts Bill will be brought before Dáil Éireann. [39721/11]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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You will be aware that the Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce new legislation to protect small building subcontractors that have been denied payments from bigger companies. In this regard, my colleague Minister of State Mr Brian Hayes has been working with Senator Feargal Quinn to develop the Construction Contracts Bill, which is now before the Dáil, into a robust piece of legislation.

In order to address a number of issues that were raised during the consultation on the Bill a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) was carried out. The RIA was completed and published on 27 September. The Report is available on my Department's website: www.per.gov.ie/reports.

The RIA examined issues relating to payment practices in the construction sector and assessed the need for legislative intervention. It found that legislation is desirable to improve payment practices and to allow swift resolution of payment disputes by way of adjudication, allowing projects to be completed without wasting time and money in litigation. In addition, the RIA examined the main proposals to amend the Bill that were raised during the Seanad debate and subsequent consultation. It found that there were merits to considering amending the Bill in a number of respects e.g. to bring lower value contracts within its scope and to make the adjudicators award binding in payment dispute cases. It concluded that any such amendments should be formulated in such a manner that would protect the taxpayer.

Minister Hayes is now reflecting on the findings of the RIA and is preparing legislative proposals which will be brought to Government shortly for approval. It is essential that the solution to this issue be balanced so as to avoid imposing regulatory or cost burdens on parties in dispute, the State or others.