Employment in the construction industry has fallen by 200,000 over the last two years and will fall by a further 100,000 by the end of next year unless a decline in public investment is reversed, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said today.
Delivering its mid-year review today, the group called for the implementation of its proposal to leverage private pension fund investment in Irish public projects.
The CIF said new projects identified in the National Development Plan and subsequent Government investment plans are unlikely to start and this will will lead to continued job losses. It said Government infrastructure investment was the key to safeguarding jobs in the sector and would contribute to economic recovery.
The review is based on feedback from CIF’s 3,000 member firms.
It said a range of infrastructure projects identified in the National Development Plan and subsequent Government spending plans were to be undertaken during the period 2010 to 2013. But it said the possibility of the projects going ahead was “rapidly diminishing as a direct consequence of Government’s failure to proceed with their planning and procurement”.
It estimates that between €500 million and €1 billion worth of new projects will start this year but that this is well below the level required to sustain the Public Capital Programme set out in April’s Budget, which is predicated on an annual average spend of €6bn between 2010 and 2013.