A fall in state spending, coupled with the on-going property market slump, resulted in almost half of Ireland's architects losing their jobs in 2008, according to an industry body.

The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland cited the massive downturn in construction output for the jobs cuts, which was reinforced by the lack of funding for private developments.

Institute officials revealed 2,800 architects and architectural technicians were employed in January 2008, prior to the recession.

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Director John Graby said around 1,200 of those have since been made redundant, with many firms planning more cuts.

According to Mr Graby, very few of these men or women would have left the trade by choice.

"There is no obvious place for these people to go, construction is being hit across the globe," he said.

"A great deal of expertise has been developed within the Irish Architectural Profession over the last 15 years and Irish architects are among the best in the world at delivering high volume, high quality buildings within very tight time frames."

The survey was conducted for RIAI by Millward Brown IMS, and studied 233 practices.

(PR/JM)