The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has welcomed the Government's announcement that they are to provide an additional €150m in Exchequer capital spending along with a new PPP pipeline valued up to €250m.

The CIF has said the investment will create additional construction work, benefitting the economy and the construction industry. It also noted that capital spending had fallen by 62% over the past six years.

"We are delighted to see the Government bring forward a positive attitude towards creating construction work and increasing capital spending," said CIF Director General Tom Parlon.

"This is a signal that the Government realises the strong impact on the economy that can be generated by bringing forward investment in capital projects. Capital spending helps stimulate economic activity. It creates jobs and improves cash flow throughout the economy, while also improving our infrastructure, benefitting Irish businesses and the Irish public. The CIF has repeatedly been pressing for this approach to be adopted and we are glad to see the Government is beginning to take this onboard.

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"Capital spending has been one of the areas that has really borne the brunt of austerity. It has fallen by over €5.5 billion in the space of six years since the downturn, dropping year on year from €9 billion in 2008 to €3.4 billion for 2013. That represents a fall of 62% in the past six years. When capital spending goes to Irish companies approximately half of that money is repatriated to the State in the form of taxes – be they income tax, PRSI or VAT on materials for the project.

"The investment in 28 schools, either in the form of new school buildings, extensions or refurbishment will be of particular benefit to the construction industry. This is the type of work that creates construction jobs on a regional basis, one of the major problems in our sector which needs to be grasped. If you were to average out the spending for schools across the 28 it would seem that approximately €1.78m is being invested per project. That can make a significant difference to the schools, the students and to the construction industry.

"The investment in energy efficiency is also to be welcomed. The CIF has been actively encouraging more retrofitting work to be carried out. With about 25,000 houses involved in the Government’s plan that works out at about €2,000 per house on average. We would expect the work that is being carried out to be limited to attic insulation and cavity wall pumping based on that type of budget."

(CD/IT)