Construction BUSINESS

Tom Parlon, Director General of CIF, commented: “Irish main and specialist contractors are absolutely critical to the Irish economy’s competitiveness. The largest corporations in the world locate in Ireland for many reasons. But, if our main and specialist contractors were not world-class they would never establish a footprint here. Ireland is working because this sector is working.

“Without the success of Irish construction, we would not have had the ability to attract tech savvy and forward-thinking multinationals like Linkedin, Google, Facebook, Eli Lilly to name but a few, and this is now recognised by the IDA and the wider Government apparatus.

“The construction industry is changing, we are innovating and leading the way in how we implement new and improved technology, how we attract and retain workers and how we work together more generally. We have emerged from the depths of the recession leaner, more modern, sustainable, adaptable and resilient. But there are significant improvements, that still need to be made in order to preserve and support our sector’s recovery into the future.

“We must enable more companies to grow and become world-leaders. To do this, we need the Government to set out an export-led growth strategy for this important sector. We also need to fix our procurement system here at home and ensure the right supports are in place to help build companies of scale. Finally, we must also work to attract workers back into the industry and make the process of moving home from abroad and gaining work in the sector more streamlined.”