The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) claims Government figures on new houses completed in the State last year were inflated and is warning the numbers of new houses coming on the market this year and next looks set to drop substantially. Around 7,500 construction jobs could be lost in this year as activity falls with the loss of €850 million worth of work, it said.

At its mid-term briefing in Dublin yesterday, the CIF also said the National Development Plan is around 10 months behind schedule and will cost €35 billion, €9 billion more than Government had anticipated. CIF director of main contracting Mr Don O'Sullivan said: "There simply isn't enough funding available to complete the plan on time." Around 40 per cent of the roads planned will not be completed before the 2006 deadline and, this year, not even one new roads contract has been signed off, he said.

CIF housing director Mr Ciaran O'Sullivan told The Irish Times he believes as few as 42,000 private homes might be completed in this year and that could fall as low as 30,000 in 2003 due to congestion in the planning process and the fact that almost 120,000 dwelling approvals are due to expire in the next 18 months.

He said evidence from the construction industry does not support figures from the Department of the Environment and Local Government, which claimed 52,600 new houses were completed last year.

"The CSO has said that in the third quarter of 2001 the number of dwellings for which planning permission was granted was down by 7 per cent. That followed a 10 per cent fall in the second quarter and I believe the fourth quarter of 2001 will show a fall of 50 per cent. . . everything was going down. Even Government projections in August of last year projected 42,000 [new homes\] for the full year. . . it just doesn't stack up," he said.

A Department spokeswoman said it stands over the accuracy of last year's data.