Public Procurement Contracts
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Cian O'Callaghan (SD), Dublin Bay North

I know this issue has been looked at and some work has been done on it, but it has not been addressed to the degree that is necessary for architects, engineers and small firms. They are still being caught by this. They are still not able to go in for projects, cannot get insurance and insurance costs are prohibitive. I recently met with representatives of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland who told me how this is driving up costs and driving small firms away from public projects. As the Minister knows architects and engineers do not operate using special purpose vehicles to avoid accountability. They are usually small to medium-sized businesses and are being pushed to the brink because of crippling costs. These costs are ultimately passed on to the taxpayer when it comes to these big public projects if they are not able to bid or if their costs have increased.
Insurers already exit the Irish market because of this exposure. The insurer AIG told an Oireachtas committee that the 1% rule was the key reason it withdrew from engineering professional indemnity cover. The result is higher premiums, reduced competition and engineering firms avoiding these public contracts. I urge the Minister to act on this.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16