Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I want to return to the discussion on productivity in the construction sector. As noted in the Central Bank's quarterly bulletin, Ireland is 20% below the EU average, and the second lowest among a number of comparable European countries examined, in this regard. It is worrying, at a time when investment should be increasing, that the quarterly report notes that investment in the sector's capital stock is declining by 2.5% year on year. The Central Bank has recommended "greater adoption of Modern Methods of Construction". As construction firms are often small, the Central Bank recommends "incentivising scale". Are there any other reasons that contribute to the low level of productivity in the construction sector in Ireland? Is there anything that the Central Bank can suggest to incentivise scale that can be looked at? It has been suggested that procurement could be used to encourage the use of modern methods of construction. I ask the officials to expand on what can be done to help to incentivise measures to address the productivity issue in the construction sector.