There were 40 construction cranes visible over the centre of Dublin from the seventh floor of The Irish Times building on Tara Street on April 1st.

This is a drop of four – or 9 per cent – on the previous month.

Just five of the cranes were located north of the river Liffey – this is the same as on March 1st.

The remaining 35 cranes were concentrated in the south docklands and along the Grand Canal – a drop of one on the previous month.

With the economy expected to continue its strong recovery this year and a number of significant developments due to enter the construction phase shortly, it's likely that the number of cranes on the Dublin skyline will increase over the months ago. This is particularly the case in the south and north docklands where large schemes at Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Bolands Mills and North Wall Quay are set to enter the construction phase.

The Irish Times will be conducting a crane survey, once a month, to track construction levels in the city.