As of the fourth quarter of 2023, there were 27,500 migrant workers in Ireland’s construction sector, an increase of 84 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2021. Photograph: iStock
However, the pressure this itself would place on an already over-constrained housing market as well as the “reality” of the competition that the State faces for the supply of migrant labour means it should not be the only solution, it added. “Construction is one of the few examples of a sector that has not expanded – in terms of numbers employed – since 2001. Given the recent population growth rate, this suggests an obvious question: is this sector simply too small to meet the current demand for housing?” ask the bulletin’s authors, Dr Dermot P Coates, Karen Hogan and Erika Valiukaite in the NCPC secretariat.
In October 2021, changes were made to the State’s employment permits system that helped attract construction workers from outside the EEA, with workers arriving from countries such as Brazil, India, Philippines, South Africa and China. In 2021, some 607 permits for construction-specific occupations were issued, with this rising to 1,349 last year.