Construction Industry Federation: Government support vital during 'transformative period' for Ireland
Tullamore native, Dominic Doheny, who is joint managing director of John Flanagan Construction, was speaking at a meeting of Ireland’s leading construction executives.
He said: “The Government is turning to construction to deliver ambitious targets in the delivery of world-class infrastructure, housing, and the specialist buildings that attract and retain global companies to Ireland.
“They must set out, with industry, a growth strategy that builds our capacity to deliver the sustainable level of 25,000 housing output required annually, and the €43bn infrastructure set out in the Public Capital Programme.”
He added that DKM consultants estimated that achieving these targets would see the construction industry grow from €15bn to €20bn by 2020, generating 110,000 jobs. Supporting that would mean a transformative period for Ireland, he said.
He warned that “the price of inaction is a continuing housing and homelessness crisis, the decline of rural Ireland, and a congested capital choking under the weight of producing over 40% of Irish GDP”.
Mr Doheny’s warnings came as engineering and consultancy firm, AECOM’s 2017 review of the construction industry predicted the value of Irish construction industry output would grow by 20% in 2017, after 15% growth in 2015.
John O’Regan, AECOM’s head of programme, cost, and consultancy in Ireland, said that Ireland needs significant infrastructure and residential spend, if it is to sustain economic growth.
He said: “It is clear that years of under-investment, by the private and public sectors, in physical and social infrastructure, will diminish the attractiveness of the island as an investment location, if spending is not accelerated.
“Construction spend should generally account for 12% of GNP, but, clearly, after the economic crash, investment fell well below that level.”
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