Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Role and Operation of National Development Finance Agency: Discussion
1:30 pm
Mr. Gerard Cahillane:
The short answer is no in that 40 to 50 construction companies went into liquidation in Ireland in the first six months and very few of those, apart from Sammon, were related to the Carillion projects. The construction industry is a high-risk, low margin industry, particularly in Ireland and the UK. Our industry is operating on a margin of 1% to 1.5% while the standard in Europe is 4% to 5%, so that is an issue.