500 signatures reached
To: The Irish Government & Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien TD
Establish an Irish State Construction Company Now
The Government should immediately create a state construction company to build and retrofit homes across the country and provide affordable residential housing on the scale required to address the Irish housing crisis.
Why is this important?
1. A State construction company would divert scarce skilled construction labour to building projects where it is urgently required.
a. In the midst of a national housing crisis, just over a quarter (26.6%, n=40,000) of the total 150,000 construction workers in Ireland are actually building residential homes. Many are building hotels and offices.
2. A State construction company would attract more young people toward pursuing a career in construction by offering quality permanent employment and better working conditions.
a. There is currently a shortage of skilled construction workers. Young people are reluctant to enter an industry sector with high job insecurity, hazardous working conditions, bogus self-employment, inadequate pay and employee benefits, and boom-bust bouts of unemployment.
b. Establishing a state construction company could counter this by offering quality permanent employment, paid apprenticeships and the opportunity to upskill, improved wages and employee benefits (e.g. improved pension provisions, early retirement schemes, sickness pay, and death in service compensation), better regulation, and improved safety and quality standards.
c. The average age of employed construction workers was 42.3 years in 2017, we urgently need to attract young people into pursuing a career in the construction sector.
3. A State construction company could also achieve economies of scale in the purchase of materials, vital at a time of price inflation and rising construction costs.