Building sector to lose 40,000 jobs next year
Many leaving to seek work in the Middle East
THE Irish economy is dead on its feet and as many as 40,000 construction workers could lose their jobs next year as housing starts have slumped to pre-1993 levels, according to latest figures obtained by the Sunday Independent.
So bad are things here that a number of leading Irish building companies are leading an exodus of our most skilled and talented workers to foreign lands in the search for work.
It has emerged that Irish firms are now lining up work in places like Dubai and Iran, both of which are experiencing building booms.
In what is further bad news for the Irish economy, the number of housing completions this year will be just 45,000 compared to the 93,000 at its peak two years ago, and next year it is reckoned that the number of completions will be less than 20,000.
This year, not one county in Ireland has managed to match or better the number of housing starts last year.
In a shocking realisation of how bad things are, in September of this year, 12 counties started less than 10 houses while four counties Wicklow, Longford, Roscommon and Cavan started no houses what so ever.
Fifteen counties have seen reductions in output of 70 per cent or more and Dublin was the best performing county, yet it has seen its output fall by almost 50 per cent.
In total, only 1,112 developments were begun throughout Ireland in the month of September, and so far this year only 16,738 houses have begun construction, compared with 45,718 in the same period in 2007.
Hundreds of small developers have gone under as a result of the market collapse. One such builder is Denis Finn, from Howth, whose story has been told in the Sunday Independent and in the Washington Post.
His company went bankrupt and he dismissed his 34 employees. Mr Finn made no money when he sold an old lodge, and recently lost more than $1m when the bank repossessed his two unfinished houses and sold them for less than half the price he had envisioned.
"I have never seen property values in my life go down, and they just took a nosedive," said Mr Finn, a father of four. "I had a good little company; now everything is gone," Mr Finn said. "It's just painful."
The Construction Industry Federation said further casualties are likely, and Ireland will build less than 20,000 houses next year. CIF director general Tom Parlon said: "While we will look to do something like 45,000 houses this year, we'll be nowhere near that next year."
Mr Parlon said that if only 20,000 houses get built next year, which is an optimistic projection, 40,000 construction jobs will be lost.
At present, the collapse in house starts is as a result of an oversupply of stock, but the CIF has warned that the shutdown in activity has been too "sharp" and could lead to another shortfall in the next 12 to 18 months.
But it has emerged that a number of leading Irish developers have just returned from Dubai where they have begun tendering for major civil and private building projects. Given the property boom, many Irish firms are seen as having the expertise necessary to carry out such major projects.
Several firms have also moved into Iran which is also embarking on multi-billion dollar large-scale projects.
