merrion street

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has today stated that the water reforms the Government has planned will create 2,000 construction related jobs in the economy on an ongoing basis. This will be achieved through the planned roll-out of a universal programme of water metering this year which will lead to the creation of up to 2,000 jobs for the three year duration of the metering installation programme. Once the metering programme has been completed, a steady level of capital investment of potentially €600 million per annum in water services, facilitated through a new public utility,

will see this level of construction employment sustained on an ongoing basis through capital investment in new infrastructure.  The Minister’s announcement  follows the announcement yesterday of  a public consultation on a suite of fundamental reforms of the water sector.

Minister Hogan said:

Jobs are at the core of this Government’s plan and the water reform programme will form a key element of our job creation strategy. The rollout of the water metering programme will result in direct employment for approximately 2,000 much-needed good quality jobs for the construction sector. A commitment to establish Irish Water as a public utility will allow for a higher level of capital investment in the sector through a long-term multi-annual programme sustaining and creating further jobs in the sector for construction workers, engineers, quantity surveyors, technicians, plumbers and others involved in the water industry generally in Ireland. This will have a real economic and job creation impact and the certainty of funding will be welcomed by the construction sector, which has seen a reduction in employment of 60% between 2007 and 2011.

Read the full press release here.