The Construction Industry Federation has called for a 1% levy on all residential property purchases to fund social housing.
Addressing the CIF annual conference, President Philip Crampton criticised Part V of the planning legislation which obliges developers to set aside one fifth of development land on a project for social housing.
He described this as a boom-time tax that had never worked, adding that those who ultimately paid the price for Part V obligations were new home buyers.
He described social housing as an onus for all of society and said it was neither fair nor equitable that it should only be paid by those who opt for a newly-built house.
Mr Crampton told the conference that a 1% levy on all residential property purchases last year would have created a fund of €60 million for social housing - substantially more than the funding created by Part V planning requirements.
He also called on the Government to reinstate legally binding Registered Employment Agreements (REA) governing wages and conditions for construction workers.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the REA system was unconstitutional, but the Government has pledged to replace the legislation.
Mr Crampton told the conference that the absence of the REA had removed a level playing field.
This had made it very difficult to tender for work against contractors who had taken advantage of the removal of legally binding rates of pay.
He described the lack of an REA as a real and definitive threat to the future development of the industry. He said if clarity were not brought to these issues, it would lead to chaos throughout the industry.
He also warned that failure to legislate could lead the sector to prioritise short-term contracts for all future employment - which would not be in the interests of the State, workers or the industry.
He said they could only ensure that they maintained standards and skills by paying workers reasonable and sustainable rates of pay.
Mr Crampton told delegates that there is still a real threat from pyrite, noting that the construction industry is at the mercy of the supplies they are provided with.
He said the CIF is carrying out a survey of all suppliers of building materials in the country to find out what regulations they are following to ensure their supplies are certified.
The results will be published in the coming months and if any supplier has not provided details, that will be stated in the report.
He noted that the construction sector activity was improving, with the number of people working in construction increasing by 4,000 between the first and second quarters of this year.
He urged the Government to focus on stimulus for the construction sector, and to take steps to increase the amount of house building to meet the mounting need for housing - including reducing the VAT rate to 9%.
Mr Crampton also praised the home renovation incentive, saying that between October 2013 and last August, 9,336 projects were completed, generating a spend of €155 million, with the work going to companies that were tax compliant.
The CIF President voiced concern about the shortage of apprentices entering construction.
Up to June of this year, only four plastering apprentices had started training, three had signed up for bricklaying, and there were no applications for a tiling apprenticeship.
He called for apprenticeships to be incentivised through funding for the first four years of training, like architects and engineers.
Minister rules out levy
Minister for Construction Paudie Coffey has said that the Government will not facilitate the return of any "boom-bust" cycle such as the one that has inflicted so much damage on the economy, society and the construction industry itself.
However, addressing the conference, he said that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction.
The minister said that not enough private or social homes are being built to meet demand.
There was a housing challenge, he said, but he would not call it a crisis, and said that people should not be panicked.
However, he ruled out introduction of the 1% levy on residential property sales proposed by the CIF to fund social housing.
He acknowledged that Part V of the planning legislation had not been delivering to provide social housing, as it required private housing construction to be happening in order for social units to be delivered.
The minister said he expected some reforms in that area.
Meanwhile, the National Asset Management Agency is to sell five major portfolios of Irish property worth a total of €600 million over the next three months.
The announcement was made by NAMA Chief Executive Brendan McDonagh at the conference.
