CIF calls for Solas engagement

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has raised fresh concerns about future training and resources for the building industry.

Speaking this morning, CIF director general Tom Parlon said it is "imperative" the construction industry is involved with Solas, the training authority established to replace Fás, which was announced yesterday by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn.

“There has to be a future for construction and with due respect to the Minister and his civil servants, they will not be creating the jobs," he said.  "It is the members of the CIF, the people who invest their money and take the risks and have the experience, that will create those jobs in the future.”

While he acknowledged the construction industry represented an "unsustainable" 25 per cent of the economy during the boom years, Mr Parlon told RTÉ's Morning Ireland this morning that the sector was currently "trailing" at "around 4 or 5 per cent".

“What we should be is about 12-15 per cent”.

Mr Quinn said last night the new training agency will break with the focus that Fás traditionally had on the construction and craft industry and will deliver "new kinds of skills delivered in new different ways".

Almost 200,000 direct jobs have been lost in the building sector over the last three years, according to the CIF, and thousands of apprentices have consequently lost their positions.

Mr Parlon said there was scope for growth in the industry but insisted the banks need to boost the sector by freeing up credit. “We would still love to be employing them, but we don’t have the work. We do continue to have infrastructure deficit within this country. Unless we have some credit, unless we have a [functioning] banking system we won’t be able to do that,” Mr Parlon said.