Construction industry rejects calls for NDP spending cut

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has rejected claims from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) regarding the capacity of the construction industry to deliver the next National Development Plan (NDP).

Responding to comments from the ESRI regarding Government investment, the CIF has called for an “ambitious and focussed” NDP to be rolled out by Government, with a special emphasis on removing the remaining infrastructure deficiencies.

The CIF has questioned the call from the ESRI to reduce the level of investment in the upcoming NDP, stating that “further and concentrated investment in our economy will ensure the country’s continued development and help to remove existing bottlenecks that exist in our infrastructure”.

A spokesperson of the CIF said: “The CIF is confident in the capacity of the construction industry to continue to meet the needs of a growing economy, having successfully delivered projects in the two previous NDPs, across all sectors of the Construction Industry.”

“Across all areas of Infrastructure, Ireland is in deficit. An ambitious NDP is the only way to tackle this, thus securing continued economic growth.”

President of the Master Builders’ and Contractors’ Association Mr. T.J Walsh said: “The present NDP has brought huge benefit in terms of building a proper infrastructure, but the growth in the economy has been so great, that in many cases, need has run ahead of the investment put in place. The CIF believe it would be counterproductive to talk about reducing the spend for the next NDP.”