The Construction Industry Federation says that private investment in building projects has dropped as a result of the economic slowdown.
In its Annual Review and Outlook, the Federation says that 44,500 thousand new homes were built last year, a drop of 5% on the figure for 2000. However, this was better than earlier forecasts.
The CIF said that activity in the construction industry is expected to shrink by 3% in 2002. This could lead to employment in the sector falling by 10,000 from an all time high of 186,000 last year. But apprentices and other skilled workers will continue to be hired.
With private sector slowing, the CIF is looking to public investment under the National Development Plan to sustain the industry. It claims that financial resources allocated by Government to infrastructure projects are insufficient and that some projects, particularly roads, are behind schedule.
But a Government spokeswoman told OnBusiness that the Exchequer had fully lived up to its funding obligations under the first two years of the National Development Plan. She said the plan was flexible and could accommodate changing priorities.
She noted, however, that all business investment plans were affected by the current economic climate, and the Government was equally constrained. She also said inflation in the construction industry was a significant factor in the increasing costs of the NDP, adding that a comprehensive mid-term review of the NDP would take place in the middle of 2003.
The Construction Industry Federation said today that fast track planning procedures need to be urgently put in place to deal with the national waste crisis which is posing a severe threat to inward investment.
The body has blamed the waste crisis on an absence of political leadership at local, regional and national level and is demanding the urgent establishment of a National Waste Authority with the same powers of the National Roads Authority.
The demand echoes a call last month by Forfas, the industrial policy advisory board, which warned that waste management in Ireland is already at critical point and predicted it is going to deteriorate further unless speedy measures were implemented.
A Forfas task force found that waste generation in Ireland increased by 89% between 1995 and 1998 due to economic prosperity - something which it viewed as 'clearly unsustainable'.
