Dr. Martin O'Brien:

On the relevant European comparison, we are about 20% below in terms of productivity relative to other European countries. By extraction, if we just got to the European average levels of construction sector productivity, we can see that we would get 20% more output for the same level of labour input. A number of factors contribute to this. The Deputy mentioned a greater adoption of modern methods of construction. We need to think about public procurement in that essence and try to incentivise those kinds of issues.

This is a feature of construction more generally, but construction firms in Ireland tend to be very small. It is very hard for small firms, generally, to innovate and engage in adopting more modern methods or technologies. Anything that can be done to incentivise scale at project level and for firms should be done. This would help firms to invest in the necessary technology and skills that they need to be more productive. Anything that can be done to try to facilitate greater productivity in the construction sector would certainly help us to reach the levels of housing supply that are necessary.