Share this article:
Guaranteed Irish is a 300 + strong business membership organisation that champions homegrown and international businesses operating in Ireland that create quality jobs, contribute to the community and promote Irish provenance with pride.
Forty of those members are big players in the Construction industry here in Ireland including names such as Irish Cement, Roadstone, Clogrennane, Tegral, Kingspan, Gyproc/ Saint Gobain, Akzo Nobel and Fleetwood.
Following a research study carried out amongst its construction, hardware, manufacturing and DIY members, Guaranteed Irish has established a think tank of experienced and seasoned construction experts who understand the supply chain in Construction, housing and development and are willing to share their expertise to help solve the construction and housing crisis.
This move has been welcomed by the Construction Industry Federation and the Hardware Association of Ireland.
To showcase the enormous contribution in terms of employment, contribution to the community and indeed exports, that these companies have made, Guaranteed Irish are running a media campaign to support this sector through our September as part of Guaranteed Irish’s ‘Construction Month’. Throughout September, the organisation is highlighting the contribution its construction-industry members make to the Irish economy and the local communities in which they are based.
This week Guaranteed Irish hosted a roundtable discussion on how to develop a sustainable construction sector at its premises at 1 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2.
The event explored how best to stimulate the construction sector and achieve sustainability in future years as we look to overcome current construction-industry challenges and avoid the peaks and troughs of past decades, while retaining jobs in this sector.
We had a great turnout for this event with many construction-sector leaders in attendance, including Tegral, Kingspan, Irish Cement, Roadstone, Dulux, the Construction Industry Federation and the Irish Hardware Association.
Jim Clery, Head of Real Estate with KPMG, chaired the event, with input from Maria Bailey TD, Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Paddy Kelly, MD of Tegral, the leading building products manufacturer; Marian Finnegan, Chief Economist, Sherry FitzGerald Group; Jacqui Hanratty, National Sales Manager and Pamela McCabe, Marketing Manager, of building materials company Kingspan and myself.
All present for the think tank were in agreement on a number of practical solutions that will work to hasten the delivery of housing and national infrastructure projects this side of Christmas in order to protect the industry and retain jobs.
The recommendations arising from this roundtable will now be developed into a position paper by Guaranteed Irish, which will be presented to members of the Oireachtas later this month.
Brid O’Connell is the CEO of Guaranteed Irish. For more information see: www.guaranteedirish.ie