The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, yesterday insisted that the Government would implement the ambitious building programme, worth £22 billion (#28 billion) under the National Development Plan between now and 2006. He warned that the construction industry would have to increase capacity to deliver the projects proposed .

However, at a construction industry conference opened by the Minister in Dublin, the president of the European Committee for Construction Economics, Mr Michael Webb of PKS, called for an extension of the six-year implementation period.