Federation calls for urgent action on NI skills exodus
10th March 2015

The Northern Ireland Executive has been urged to stem the tide of construction workers leaving the province by committing to more capital spending and ensuring that announced projects go ahead.

The call, from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).forms part of its Northern Ireland “Programme for Government” due to be launched at a high profile cross-party event in Stormont.

Maire Nawaz, Northern Ireland Director of the FMB, said: “The Northern Ireland construction industry is trailing behind the rest of the UK and today we’re calling on the Executive to put a number of measures in place to boost workloads. While the construction sector stutters in Northern Ireland, we’re seeing stronger and more consistent growth in England, Scotland and Wales so it’s no surprise our skilled workers are being enticed over to the mainland. Our concern is: will they return to NI if and when we begin to catch up?”

She said the Federation had launched a concise set of recommendations for the Executive, which will allow the NI construction sector to bounce back from the economic downturn once and for all: “The Executive needs to rebalance capital and current spending, commit to building at least 11,000 homes a year by 2020; and provide local employment in Northern Ireland by ensuring announced construction projects actually go ahead.”

She concluded: “Another key barrier to growth in the NI construction sector is access to finance – especially for construction SMEs which are suffering from blanket discrimination by the banks, regardless of how healthy the firm’s accounts may be. NI firms want to benefit from some of the government interventions enjoyed by small construction companies in other parts of the UK. This includes the British Business Bank, which is available in England, and is designed to counteract the reluctance of banks to lend to small construction firms. The construction industry is a key driver of growth but at present, it is not being properly utilised by the Northern Ireland Executive – this has to change.”

www.fmb.org.uk