Terra Nua Building Contractors welcome the announcement by the Department of Education that a significant new school building programme will be rolled out over the immediate period ahead. We however worry that if individual contracts are not tendered correctly, few of the Contractors who are struggling to keep going in the Republic will benefit from this initiative, some may not even be able to tender. If this were to happen the contracts may well be awarded to Contractors who operate outside of the State, or in Northern Ireland, thus not actually creating employment for the Irish Construction Industry. In addition, we worry that contracts will be given to non compliant contractors, i.e. those who do not comply with Public Procurement Guidelines, who for example do not pay Pension and Sick pay for their direct employees. The following press release from the CIF shows that they too share our concerns, http://www.cif.ie/news-events/current-news/cif-welcomes-school-building-plan/
