The construction sector is hoping to attract Irish emigrants from abroad with the promise of thousands of jobs.
It is estimated that 112,000 workers are needed to deliver €17.8bn of construction activity in the pipeline in housing , infrastructure and FDI.
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has launched a new recruitment website cifjobs.ie and says the industry is expected to grow 9 per cent annually between now and 2020.
In the next three years, Irish industry will require in the region of: 15,200 electricians; 7,800 bricklayers, 11,800 plumbers, 30,800 carpenters and joiners; 13,900 plasterers/floor and tilers ; 9,400 painters and decorators, 9,600 managers, 18,100 operatives , and 27,600 general labourers .
Tom Parlon, director general of the CIF, said; “The construction industry is growing strongly across all our sectors and trades.We are asking Irish people with construction experience who have left Ireland to consider returning to take up a role in construction. There is sufficient work in the pipeline to require about another 112,000 .”
Construction pipeline
Construction Information Services estimate more than €17.8bn in the construction pipeline from planning applications as we enter 2017 In addition, the Government may expand the €43bn Capital Programme in 2017, the Rebuilding Ireland Strategy envisages an annual output of 25,000 houses per year by 2020 and the demand for specialist buildings related to FDI is increasing. With a forecast of 9 per cent annual growth on average, the CIF say it expects the construction sector will be a €20 billion sustainable industry by 2020.
“We are working with the Education and Training Boards (ETBs) to upskill those on the live register with construction experience,” says Parlon.
“Cifjobs.ie will highlight the jobs available in our member companies and allow potential candidates to engage directly with Ireland’s leading construction companies The CIF is partnering with a number of organisations such as DKM consultants, Hays Recruitment Ireland, ICDS Recruitment, Back4Good.ie and the CIF’s Pension Administration Services to inform Irish emigrants of the opportunities in Ireland.
For 2016 the CIF forecasts 14,000 new dwellings, growing to 20,000 units in 2018 and 32,500 in 2020. It says the overall volume of construction output is forecast to increase by 12.5 per cent this year to around €15 billion (6.9 per cent of GNP), followed by growth of 8.5 per cent in 2017 and 7.1 per cent in 2018.
Although the CIF says there is a caveat and this scenario is “ subject to a number of downside risks, including uncertainty over Brexit”. It qualifies this by saying “there is a substantial volume of work planned by the commercial and industrial sectors in response to the economic recovery and the growth in population. There is also considerable pent-up demand for housing which, if delivered, could see the level of housebuilding by 2020 returning to more normal levels.”