CIF warns of just 80,000 jobs in building sector

JOBS IN the Republic’s building industry will shrink to about 80,000, less than half what it should be, unless the Government boosts spending on public projects, a representative body for the sector warned the Taoiseach yesterday.

Construction Industry Federation (CIF) director general Tom Parlon wrote to Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Finance Michael Noonan yesterday, calling on them to act to arrest the sector’s rapid decline.

The latest data show the building industry has declined for almost four straight years. March was the 46th month in a row in which construction orders fell, according to the Ulster Bank industry Purchasing Managers’ Index published yesterday.

Mr Parlon warned that employment in construction would drop below 80,000 by the end of this year, from a high of almost 240,000 in 2007, unless the Government met targets for spending on infrastructure projects. “The industry is at crisis point, and a statement of Government intent and policy is required if construction employers are to retain what is left of their resources here.”

He said the CIF’s own research shows that the rate of State spending on building roads, water treatment plants, schools and other public projects was slowing.