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Taoiseach Enda Kenny Speaking at the Construction 2020 Launch today

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore today launched Construction 2020 – a strategy for a renewed construction sector, at the National Sports Campus.

The strategy commits to a detailed, time-bound set of actions to support the return of the sector to sustainable levels. Through the 75 actions the Government will identify and remove unnecessary obstacles to appropriate development, while ensuring robust and sustainable planning for the future.

Key commitments include:

• New National Framework for Housing Supply and annual statement of projected supply and demand

• Establishment of a Housing Supply Coordination Task Force for Dublin, providing for a joined-up approach in the Dublin area, with an immediate focus on addressing supply/demand imbalances

• High Level Working Group dedicated to issues of sustainable bank and non-bank development financing

• Work to improve the transparency and sustainability of mortgage lending, and examination of international best practice and development of proposals for additional models of mortgage financing in Ireland

• Supporting ex-construction workers on the live register, including working with industry and through the extended use of social clauses in public works contracts

• Reduced rates of development contributions put in place since the economic downturn to be made available to existing planning permissions that have yet to be activated

Launching the plan, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said:

The central aim of the strategy is to provide homes for our people by tripling housing output by 2020 and adding 60,000 jobs to the construction sector over the same period.

It is necessary for the Government to support a sustainable and viable construction sector.

While the country is starting to recover with over 1,000 jobs a week being created we are still far from finishing the job.

There are still far too many people out of work and from my travels around the country I know that many places have still to see any signs of recovery.

The construction sector has a key role in supporting economic development and job creation in Ireland.

We are beginning to see signs of stabilisation in the sector.

The Government will support this recovery but only if it is based on the highest international standards in quality, excellence and trust.

Nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of the construction and property boom. That won’t benefit the country, young families or the sector itself.

The spectacular crash in the sector has caused widespread hardship and ruin for many.

The creation of a boom bust property market has left hundreds of thousands of families in negative equity, the consequences of which will be with us for many years to come.

I promise you there is no going back to that past.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore added:

We are moving to develop a more comprehensive social housing strategy, which will set out a vision for the sector in the years ahead. Minister O’Sullivan will also be publishing a Homelessness Implementation Plan in the coming weeks.

As I said, I do not see the launch of this document as the end of our work – it is only the beginning.

It is taking us down the path to a more sustainable construction sector, which provides good sustainable employment, but which also provides the homes and the commercial property that our country needs.

Having a healthy construction sector is part of having a healthy, well-functioning economy, and I look forward to seeing this strategy being put into action.

Read the Taoiseach's speech

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Read the Tánaiste's speech

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Download the Strategy Document