Measured and targeted growth of Construction sector essential to aid economic growth – Clune

Fine Gael MEP Candidate for Ireland South, Senator Deirdre Clune, today (Tuesday) outlined the necessity of using the hard lessons learned during the collapse of the Celtic Tiger to support those in construction who are essential to the development of Cork.

“In 2007 35,000 people were employed in the construction sector in Cork. This figure fell by more than 20,000 over the following 6 years and it was only last year that construction output finally increased, with a corresponding rise in employment levels. As the people of Cork are just recovering from the collapse of Irish Construction sector, there is an understandably cautious welcome to the prospect of growth returning in this area.

“Last year the value of the construction industry in Cork in 2013 was just over 1 billion euro and as the Action Plan for Jobs continues in its work to create jobs and aid economic recovers, new construction jobs are expected to come on stream in Cork.

“The construction industry grew too large during the boom years and when the Government came into office in 2011 they were greeted with a mammoth task of tacking the crisis and charged with making some very difficult decision.  

“After a lot of hard work and major sacrifices by the people of Cork, the tide is finally beginning to turn. The recent Forfás report commissioned by Government identified a target for the construction industry nationally of 12% of GNP by 2015. There is a real need for quality, modern office space in close proximity to Cork city to cater for the growing number of tech start-ups and Foreign Direct Investment. In the residential housing market, the ESRI estimates that we need about 20,000 new homes nationally every year. For Cork that figure translates to about 2,500 new homes every year.

“This presents a huge opportunity for the people of Cork and is good news for all local business. In recent years there has been a massive fall off in the number of students taking construction related courses at third level. This is an area where young people should again be identifying opportunities and where skills are needed.

“Though this is extremely postive for Cork, it is vital that there is a measured and intelligent approach to managing development. The Páirc Uí Chaoimh stadium redevelopment project, which will sustain between 300 and 400 construction jobs, is just one of a number of high value projects that are due to start in 2014/2015. Projects like these are essential to kick start an industry that was on its knees and that needs careful nurturing back to health.”