Cost of business way up, says CIF

THE Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said the cost of business in Ireland has increased significantly in recent years and is blaming part of the hike on Government and local authority-imposed charges.

It said the impact of higher input costs is “damaging our competitiveness and reducing our attractiveness for foreign direct investment.”

It also said construction firms have experienced increases in liability insurance costs of an average of 200%-250% since 2000 and that this rise has been significantly higher than the level of increases experienced in other sectors. Though insurance costs have fallen by a quarter in the last 12 months, rates are still higher than they were in 2001.