Govt must balance cuts with investment, CIF warns

Unless the Government balances cutbacks with continued investment in capital projects there will be a further spiralling down of the economy, the director general of the Construction Industry Federation has said.

Following an emergency meeting of industry-wide groups today, Tom Parlon said the construction industry is in freefall.

The meeting, held in Dublin, included all the major employers in the industry as well as suppliers, sub-contractors, architects, engineers and surveyors. It was convened to discuss the presentation of a plan to Government in advance of its mini-Budget in April.

Some 190,000 are currently employed in the industry, Mr Parlon said, but managing directors of firms from all around the country had signalled that their current projects were all they had and once completed, there was nothing else in the pipeline and staff would have to be let go.

“Continued investment in our infrastructure and in the NDP is absolutely essential if we are to try and maintain the jobs that are there,” Mr Parlon said.

“We are going to have to have cutbacks, but unless we balance that with maintaining economic activity and continuing to invest in capital projects we are going to see a further spiralling down.”

He said for every €100 million invested in infrastructure, 1,000 jobs are created and the exchequer saves €30 million a year in social welfare.

“It’s a no-brainer really for us to invest in badly needed infrastructure,” he said.

The group made a series of recommendations including the reinstatement of all cancelled ready-to-go labour intensive infrastructure projects, and the fast tracking of “shovel ready” projects in the National Development Plan (NDP).

It also recommended the overhaul of public procurement procedures and the elimination of delays as well as the introduction of a substantial first time buyers grant and the elimination of stamp duty, both for a limited period. And it said the 80 per cent of pension funds currently invested abroad could be invested in infrastructure at home with a guaranteed Government return.