Building boom at a shuddering end, says Lenihan

CONFIRMATION that the construction industry is facing a crisis came yesterday with the first public admission by a senior Government minister that Ireland’s building boom has come to a “shuddering end”.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s comments came as figures from the Central Statistics Office show that there was a 15% reduction in the number of planning permissions issued for new houses in the first three months of 2008, compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.

Just 13,301 planning permissions were granted between January and March this year, compared to 15,654 in 2007. However, the sharp downturn in the demand for new houses is somewhat alleviated by an 8% increase in planning permissions issued for apartments.