The President of the Society of Chartered Surveyors says the construction and property sectors face further increases in unemployment unless the Government provides 'strong and innovative leadership'.
Sean McCormack said that while the output of the construction sector in 2007 was 38.4 billion it now looked as if this could shrink to €14 billion by 2010 in the absence of any policy intervention.
He said that such a dramatic fall could lengthen the economic depression and delay any prospect of recovery.
He also said that construction costs fell by 11% last year, with most of the reductions in the second half of the year.
Mr McCormack welcomed the recent Government announcement committing to invest in the public capital programme and urged the implementation of this commitment which will help secure the thousands of jobs in the building industry.
