Construction BUSINESS

As part of Guaranteed Irish Construction Month this year, Guaranteed Irish held a roundtable discussion on ‘Planning for a sustainable Irish construction sector in post Brexit Ireland – the challenges and opportunities’ which focused on safeguarding homegrown construction jobs and building a future for the construction industry in Ireland. Guaranteed Irish designates September as ‘Construction Month’. Now in its third year, the business membership organisation highlights the contribution its construction, manufacturing and engineering members make to Irish jobs, local communities and the Irish economy. Members of Guaranteed Irish in the construction sector include Kingspan, Saint Gobain, Tegral, Kilsaran Concrete, Combilift and many more.

The roundtable discussion, attended by business leaders from the construction, manufacturing and engineering industries, highlighted the solutions and actions required by the Government to successfully sustain quality construction jobs in a post-Brexit Irish economy.

The roundtable discussion was held in Croke Park and the panel of experts consisted of a number of key decision makers in the Irish construction sector including:

• Rachel Kenny, Director of Planning, An Bord Pleanala
• Kathryn Meghan, CEO, RIAI
• Brian Dolan, Managing Director, Saint Gobain Ireland
• Paddy Kelly, CEO, Tegral and Chair of Guaranteed Irish
• Pat Lucey, Regional Manager, SISK
• Patrick Atkinson, CEO, Grafton Group.

All attendees of the Irish construction supply chain were represented. They shared their concerns regarding the impact of Brexit on the Irish construction industry and discussed opportunities that Guaranteed Irish members should be focusing on that can help us to avoid a boom and bust scenario in the industry in the near future. The 500,000 homes across the country currently requiring retrofitting could future proof opportunities within construction regarding employment for the next thirty years. The Government need to continue to support this programme and reassure consumers that there is funding in place to support deep retrofitting.

There was a strong focus on how the sector can play its role in achieving environmental targets and reduce the carbon footprint of the Irish construction industry. The expert panel discussed how the construction sector needs to be incentivised to achieve zero carbon emissions if it is to have any chance of reaching its target. They called on the Government to define sustainability to include locally sourced materials, reward less travel required and incentivising creation of regional enterprise and employment.

The six main areas Guaranteed Irish have called on the Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy and the Government to review include:

1. Brexit’s effect on Irish construction and how to avoid a boom and bust economy in the construction sector.
2. Driving towards a zero-carbon target by rewarding those who use local services, sources and supply chains.
3. Building houses using materials and products that are available from companies in Ireland who support local jobs.
4. Rebranding the construction industry to attract educated and innovative design and engineering talent.
5. Creating a national design competition to attract innovative solutions to the housing crisis.
6. Creating regional opportunities to support regional construction jobs through retrofitting.

“At Guaranteed Irish, we are calling on the Government to take action to ensure the construction sector remains sustainable and we retain the jobs within it. Our members are prepared to play their part and call on the Government to meet them halfway. Events, such as our construction roundtable discussion, are vital for the construction sector based here in Ireland as it allows us to discuss issues of urgency relevant to the current economic landscape. Guaranteed Irish represents all that is good about Ireland and we need to protect those businesses who aspire to that. We hope that the expertise provided by our panel helped to shed light on the concerns and challenges facing the construction sector in Ireland today.” commented  Brid O’Connell, CEO, Guaranteed Irish.

Guaranteed Irish is one of Ireland’s most enduring, recognisable and authentic symbols. The business membership organisation has a network of 600+ members nationwide across various sectors, supporting over 71,390 jobs with an annual combined turnover of €11.2 billion to the Irish economy. The Guaranteed Irish symbol helps Irish consumers identify products and services that are a better choice for jobs and local communities in Ireland. Businesses that have been awarded the Guaranteed Irish mark have fulfilled the following criteria: jobs, provenance and community.