Government Housing Plan is about Building Communities – CIF Annual Conference 2016

The Government’s Rebuilding Ireland plan “isn’t just about bricks and mortar” housing Minister Simon Coveney stated at the Construction Industry Federation conference which took place on Thursday 6th October. “It’s about putting sustainable communities in place right across the country”.

Building Communities, not just housing, has been the Respond goal for many years.

Ned Brennan, Chief Operations Officer with Respond joined the discussion panel following Minister Simon Coveney, which discussed the government’s new housing strategy. Conference agenda can be found here

The conference spoke of the need for a supportive policy framework wherein the construction industry could potentially generate 75,000 jobs, create 25,000 houses per annum and deliver infrastructure projects worth over €26 billion.

CIF President Michael Stone in his address stated:

“This year the construction industry has been tasked with ‘Rebuilding Ireland.’ It’s clear the Government recognises again that our industry and the progress of the Irish economy are intertwined. Construction is critical to this country’s growth and job creation. For every 10 jobs in construction, another 4 are created indirectly – meaning we support over 190,000 jobs in Ireland in communities throughout the country.

In fact, the majority of key Government targets in the Action Plan for Jobs, the Public Capital Programme, the Enterprise 2025 strategy, the IDA’s FDI targets, the National Broadband Plan and others are dependent on our industry’s capacity to deliver high quality construction……the Irish construction industry is starting on a journey that will lead to it becoming an internationally successful industry based in Ireland. The global construction market is estimated to grow to $15trillion by 2030 and the Irish industry will step up to capture these opportunities generating jobs and growth and increasing exports significantly. We will pursue the highest standards of construction, develop innovative products and services and deliver excellent value for money for domestic and international clients.

To achieve this vision, we need to partner with Government today to ensure that the domestic market is a springboard to export growth for our companies. We must work together to remove barriers to growth which make it impossible for the SME construction company to scale-up and realise their potential. Addressing market failure in finance, supply constraints in housing, planning issues, low technology uptake amongst companies and collaboration across the supply chain will equip the industry to become globally successful.”

The conference’s theme, ‘Constructing Ireland 2027′, focused on how the Irish construction industry will shape Irish society in the coming decade. The conference’s aim is to kick start the creation of a 10 year vision that envisages an internationally recognised, innovative industry that delivers world class construction and drives economic recovery, job creation, FDI and regional development in the wider economy.

Posted: October 2016