Up to 10,000 jobs will be lost in the road building industry over the next 12 months, it has been claimed.

Civil Engineering Contractors Association President, Pat McCarthy, said the losses will be a direct consequence of the Irish government's failure to meet its commitments set out in its public capital programme and the National Development Plan.

He said: "While the government is insisting they will continue with investment in the order of €6bn per year over the next six years, there is absolutely no evidence on the ground that this is happening."

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Mr McCarthy claimed 10,000 construction workers - machine drivers, pavers, pipe layers, engineers and other construction professionals - are currently engaged in road building.

"All of these projects will be complete by the middle of 2010. Following this the workers will be unemployed and the plant and machinery will be moved to Eastern Europe."

He said companies involved in consulting engineering and they are laying off highly qualified and experienced staff at an "alarming rate".

"Design work is not being carried out on the projects that are contained in the government’s plan for capital investment."

This, Mr McCarthy said, makes a "mockery" of the government claiming it wants to keep people in employment.

"Even if the government announces that they are to proceed with specific projects, there will be a significant time lag between the design phase and the construction phase, which will result in significant job losses for our members," he added,

"In effect, the roads programmes as we know it, in the capital programme, has been dismantled."

(PR/BMcc)