€5bn plan ‘can save 40k building jobs’

IRELAND could avoid the loss of 40,000 construction jobs this year by building roads, schools and hospitals with a proposed €5bn Government stimulus package.

Ken Cribben, president of the Society of Chartered Surveyors (SCS), told attendees at the society’s annual dinner in Dublin last night that thousands more jobs are in immediate danger.

The society is suggesting that money from the State’s pension funds could be invested in construction projects.