Irish construction firms must challenge the narrative that the sector lacks the resources and capacity to deliver housing and large-scale infrastructure projects outlined in the Government’s new National Development Plan (NDP), an industry event heard on Tuesday.
The Construction Industry Federation (Cif) annual conference also heard that large firms are increasingly exporting their services abroad and so diverting resources away from the Republic to markets where the pipeline of work is more secure.
Speaking on a panel at the event in Croke Park, Gillian Murtagh, director of Westmeath-based pre-cast concrete manufacturer Shay Murtagh, said that 80 per cent of the firm’s orders are now coming from the UK.
She said that while the UK is a much larger market than the Republic, the main difference is in the speed of “realisation” of projects in the pipeline.
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Contractors in the Republic might have several projects that have “passed planning, passed the tender”, but have “no go date” for work to commence, Ms Murtagh said.
She said the issue of “capacity” and the suggestion that the industry is not able to deliver is “not really real”.
The conference heard that despite Government funding announcements, not many public infrastructure projects are currently in the works.
“I think it’s fair to say that over the past couple of months, eTenders has never been quieter,” said Ger Ronayne, chief executive of contractor JJ Rhatigan, referring to the State’s electronic public procurement system.
He said: “The industry as a whole, we’ve all built capacity. We could build more capacity. We’ve done that through upskilling our workforce, developing our staff, education, innovation, digital construction, and modern construction methods.”
Mr Ronayne said that anecdotally, infrastructure projects are getting stuck in the pipeline after they have already gone to tender, awaiting Government sign-off on the funding for them.
Addressing the conference, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the funding for infrastructure and housing contained in the NDP is “fairly secure”.
“It’s made up of exchequer [funding], semi-State, equity injections in terms of issues around transport and water and so on,” he said.
“The challenge would be around delivery of that funding and delivery of the infrastructure with a focus on water, energy, transport and, of course, housing.”
He said the Government will look at “bespoke legislation” to solve issues around judicial reviews and other causes of delays in the planning process.
Meanwhile, a senior official from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) said planning snarl-ups have squeezed the State agency’s pipeline of roads projects.
Geraldine Fitzpatrick, is head of capital programme at TII, told the conference that the pipeline “is not too good at the moment”.
She said that over the past two decades, the timeframe for getting a project through the planning approval process and out to construction has doubled from 10 to 20 years.
Ms Fitzpatrick cited the example of the Galway City Ring Road, which has been stuck in limbo for seven years after An Bord Pleanála quashed its own decision to grant permission for the scheme following judicial review.
The Slane bypass in Co Meath is also facing a judicial review challenge, which Ms Fitzpatrick said she expects to be in court in January.
