This article is from page 71 of the 2009-03-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 71 JPG
THE mid-west branch of the Con- struction Industry Federation (which includes Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary) has backed a recovery plan put forward by construction employers to save jobs, generate in- creased government revenues and kick start economic recovery.
The CIF recently held an emergen- cy meeting that brought together all of the major construction employers, including the major material sup- pliers, representatives of the archi- tectural, engineering and surveying professions, major contractors and house builders.
Conor O’Connell from the CIF Mid-West Branch has outlined the key issues contained in the recovery plan drawn up by the CIF. According to O’Connell “infrastructure spend- ing 1s the key to saving jobs, increas- ing exchequer revenues and provid- ing a platform for economic recovery for the mid-west region.”
“In the mid-west, construction cur- rently employs in the region of 15,000 people directly, which is down by almost 10,000 people in two years. This does not include the thousands of people who are employed indi- rectly. The sector in the mid-west also supports thousands of induced jobs in the shops, restaurants etc. where construction workers spend WeCoJD MAYER Xo ee
“It was agreed as part of the recov- ery plan that urgent action is needed within the next month to protect these existing jobs. The prospect of thousands of job losses in construc- tion throughout the mid-west and the entire country is real unless the pipe- line of projects increases.”
“One of the major fears for con- struction employers in the mid- west region relates to infrastructure spending and the possibility of fur- ther cuts in labour intensive projects arising from the upcoming budget- ary measures.
It is the view of the mid-west Branch that this would be the en- tirely wrong thing to do from the economy’s perspective resulting in increased social welfare costs and undoing any savings from upcoming budgetary measures.”
“As it 1s, 75 per cent of infrastruc- ture spending is already committed to ongoing or contracted projects and even a minor cut in spending would mean that virtually no new projects will start over the coming months. In addition, spending on the pre-tender design, engineering and surveying has been significantly cut meaning a reduction in ready to go projects over the coming 12 months.”
‘Now is the time for the Govern- ment to take advantage of the com- petitive tendering environment and to place an emphasis on labour inten- sity and projects that are vital for the local economy in the long term.”
“Doing nothing is not an option for the economy. The cost of stimulat- ing the industry is less than the cost of doing nothing, including social welfare costs, loss of productivity and the wider recession caused by doing nothing.”