The Department of Education is facing a showdown with schools subcontractors who have been left out of pocket after the collapse of the British construction giant Carrillion and the Irish group Sammon.

A contingency fund should be set up to ensure sub-contractors are paid what they are owed after massive delays and liquidations of two main firms involved in a school building public-private partnership (PPP), some TDs and senators believe.

Two school extensions being built by the troubled Sammon Group are already over a year behind schedule.

Five schools and a college being built by a partnership involving the collapsed UK construction firm Carillion should be open by September.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has conceded it will take “a couple of weeks” to resolve the fallout from the collapse of the Carillion construction company, and is causing a knock-on impact on six schools in Ireland.

Works should continue as usual on five schools being built for the Department of Education by a consortium led by one of the UK’s biggest building firms which is in liquidation.