Red tape ‘causing seven-year delay in construction projects’

The Construction Industry Federation has claimed that bureaucracy and red tape are causing a delay of up to seven years in the physical delivery of new houses and infrastructure projects.

The federation made the claim at the launch of its outlook for 2005 today.

Chief executive Liam Kelleher said part of the problem was a slow planning process.

"Once the projects go to the construction stage, they are being built and completed on or ahead of the planned schedule," he said.