School builders ‘leaving sub-contractors unpaid’

BUILDERS awarded school-building projects have been leaving sub-contractors unpaid, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has revealed.

The Education Minister told a Dáil committee that while her department has been getting improved value on tenders for school building contracts, there are concerns that some firms are offering to do work too cheaply and subsequently running into trouble themselves.

“A number of projects are taking considerably longer than anticipated and the costs have even gone down more dramatically than last year.