Call to diaspora: Ireland needs your craft skills

If this year was about putting in place policies to address supply issues in housing, 2017 will be about ensuring the industry has sufficient numbers of skilled workers.

Failure to do so could stymie Minister Simon Coveney’s ambitious strategy that calls for a near doubling of housing activity up to 2020.

Strategies underpin the entire economic and social trajectory of Irish society for the next decade, so it’s essential the construction industry has the capacity to deliver the accommodation, roads, rail, schools and water infrastructure and specialist buildings required over the next decade.