Non payment to subbies is rampant. Where is the legislation that was promised to stop this happening.

Should there be a rule where companies like said Contractor are barred from receiving public tenders both at Govt & Co Council level? DPB have a history of getting tenders in North Tipp also.

Glad to see that they put them back, I do think that with the current climate that some legislation needs to be put it place to stop this from happening. Its not fair on those working with the subbies, and its also not fair on those who get affected by the knock on effect.

Well I am very relieved that the school will be repaired and my son will be disappointed to hear he’s back to school. BUT we all need to easily accessed legal protection to ensure we get paid for work done (rather than holding kids to ransom) How do we get that? It certainly feels that we don’t have it in Ireland and if someone wants to just not bother paying you they’ll get away with it.

I am afraid the abuse of subcontractors in public building projects is another legacy of the great Brian Cowen in finance . The public building contract which he revised in the teeth of opposition from industry and professionals is deeply unfair to subcontractors. It is a disgrace for the Department to wash their hands of the issue the way they do in the above statement .

Glad to hear that situation has been resolved. l know its terribly upsetting for children, they will probably be given a well deserved day off, as school needs to be put back together. Hope the suggestion that subcontractors are to be paid is true.Not good enough that the small man endures deferred payments or as in many cases recently , never gets paid. Government are not acting in an expediant manner and should bring forward the legislation immediately. If it had already been none this situation would not have arisen.

I was caught for 20k in a similar situation! The Arsehole Architect told me that I would have to take it on the chin?nNothing he could do?

You’re talking about ‘Retention of Title’ I think Niall and yes it should be on every work contract and printed on every invoice where goods are involved also. None of this excuses the behaviour of the Contractor however. I couldn’t agree more on the mis-handling by subjecting the school to this.

i agree subcontractors should be paid but resorting to criminal acts by stealing and tresspassing on a school will not help their case

Government agencies have no standards when it comes to hiring private companies or contractors. I worked for a cowboy sign company in Dublin responsible for a lot of the messy faded signage you see in a lot of the government buildings around the city. I recall that I mentioned the state work the company did when I was at an OPW interview, the response was ‘ara sure we get anybody to do that, we dont really care who’.

well posting comments on here is definitely going to solve this, that is unless another story comes along in 5 minutes and everybody just totally forgets abou this!

Those builders should be made pay for this crime and should face a prison sentence for stealing out of a school