Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

I move amendment No. 9:
In page 7, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:
“Report on net contribution clauses
9. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before Dáil Éireann on the potential impacts of introducing net contribution clauses to public construction contracts, so as to facilitate greater competition and access to smaller engineering and architecture firms.”.
The effect of this amendment is to increase opportunities for smaller construction firms. Currently, there are prohibitively high operating costs and insurance costs, which preclude many smaller engineering or construction firms from applying for and winning public contracts. In the case of defects, it prevents smaller contracts from having to absorb the full costs of potential defects caused by others. All contractors remain liable for any defects for which they may be responsible. It also ensures fairness in how liability works. It acts to encourage more companies to tender by making public contracts more attractive and less risky. The Civil Liability Act already allows for it. Section 35(1) explicitly recognises that parties may enter contracts limiting liability to just their share. This amendment does not mandate any changes to procurement practises. Instead, it asks the Minister to examine and report on the potential impact of introducing net contribution clauses in public construction contracts. It is pretty straightforward in purpose to assess whether contractual forms could increase competition, broaden access to public contracts and then create opportunities for smaller firms to participate in major infrastructure projects at a time when we desperately need greater capacity across our construction sector. We have sat on the Joint Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery and heard about how smaller firms are not able to access and cannot compete with the larger firms. Building up that local and indigenous expertise of construction companies would actually be super beneficial for critical infrastructure projects but also the wider infrastructure we are delivering, whether that is in housing or elsewhere. This amendment simply seeks to achieve this evidence and analysis so that future politicians can be informed by a proper assessment to encourage smaller firms to be able to take an active participation in the current procurement processes we have.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-16