Paving the way for more job losses

Thousands of jobs are likely to be lost due to the sharp rise in stealth taxes, especially in the form of local council levies, according to a spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation.

Foreign investment will dry up and go elsewhere, and the level of employment will be an inevitable casualty.

On average some 10,000 IDA-backed jobs have already been vanishing annually in manufacturing industries over the past three years.