Construction needs more investment: CIF

The Construction Industry Federation has said it has identified a worrying trend in government cuts to investment in construction.

The organisation said the decrease indicated the absence of a national construction plan, and could damage economic recovery.

The CIF said government spending was running at 25% of the level committed for 2011. The organisation called on the incoming government to publish a list of projects it would pursue, and to invest in new ones.

CIF director of policy and research Martin Whelan said the 2010 decision to published a revised list of infrastructural projects, the IMF-EU negotiations and the December Budget all impacted on investment in the industry, and he said those events had been preceded by at least a year of "significant delays" in new funding.